The Guardian Saga I: Soliloquy
by Ryan Armstrong
Summary: Forget the light. Forget the zords. Forget the team. Forget everything you know about being a Ranger. What lies in these pages is the story of a new kind of Ranger, and the world he must face, alone.
1. Introduction

You know who I am. You've met people like me your entire life. We're in the ones in the crowd, at the parties, among the masses. We're the people that sit, but don't speak; watch, but never act; state, but never question. We have that faraway look, the one where nothing around us matters, and our minds are light years away from anything else, and then just like birds suddenly where there, focused on something that was just said. We've always been there, a presence more than a voice, and yet when we do act, we leave a lasting impression that does not tend to erode with the passing of time.

No one wants to know what happens in our lives, we may be interesting, but the only way any one finds out is by asking, we rarely offer information freely, unless we think it can push a conversation in an interesting direction. Our lives are no different than yours, for we suffer from the same problems, and life events that you do, but what is different is the way we see the world during the problems. Our faraway stares are more than just deep thought; they're a powerful connection to something else, something none of us can put into words. It's a connection of ideas, which cannot be translated into verbal definition, so for the sake of time, and space, I will not attempt too. This connection does not make us better than anyone else, nor does it make us smarter. Instead, we find ourselves more aware of the passage of time, the looks and thoughts of other people, body language, interactions, and the effects they could cause.

Some of us though, have gone deeper than that, and now we're capable of things beyond what you might imagine an ordinary human is. Curious yet? I hope so, if you're not, then I apologize, maybe this isn't your flavor of literature. What comes next though may change your opinion one way or the other.

All of these things I have described are true about me and others like me, but remember I said "You know who I am." That was a half truth, for in reality, you don't know who I am, because I haven't told you yet. I've tried to write this text at least a hundred times before, on paper, and in my head, and I imagine there is a possibility I could write it a hundred more times. It's tough to keep going, once you have a lot down, and if you can't get the right start you're doomed before you can get into the main section. If you need to know one thing right away, one thing about me that defines everything else, then know this. My name is Keith, and I'm a Power Ranger.


	2. Reasons

I've always been a ranger. From the moment of first conscience thought, to the last breath I just took. It's something that has been in me since the beginning, a destiny not written, but completely unavoidable. Every chance to set myself on a different path, I've passed on. Every chance to make my life better, I've rejected. My purpose is simple; help those around me, and anyone else I can until I can no longer breathe. I've sacrificed chances of happiness, moments of bliss, and forsaken love to remove any form of distractions from this goal. It has left me in a permanent state of solitude, but every time I lend aid to someone else, it's worth every moment of loneliness. The hardest part of this life is the first time you realize that you can't save everyone. The majority of the time is spent waiting, until the time is right, to say the right thing, take the right action, or being the shoulder to lean on. Sometimes its pure action, and a simple choice, like who to shoot, can decide who lives, and who dies. Sometimes its overwhelming, smothering, like no matter what, every choice I make is wrong, every action I take, a fallacy, and all the words, not enough. Sometimes, the agony of sitting and watching is paralyzing, and every moment is an eternity. Sometimes, some fights are meaningless, without reason, or justification, and they don't even serve the purpose of moving on towards something else. When it gets really bad though, what keeps me going above all else, what pushes me beyond my limit, beyond physical logical ability, is the fact that above all else, the thought of failure, of losing someone close to me is not acceptable, and will never happen again. Once was enough.

My life is about more than just being noble, or righteous. My life is a dedication to making the world the way it should be, the way we all want it to be. And I will do I can, to make this world a reality at all costs, even if means the end of my life to do it.


	3. Beginning with You

I held her in my arms in a way I never had before. Her tears fell upon my shirt, staining it with water. For the first time in my light, I was connected to her, and it was more powerful than other connection I had before. It was everything I hoped, everything I wanted, every dream I've ever wished for, and the worst part was, that was the closest I would ever come to another life.

The wind whipped around both of us teasing her hair, and blowing my clothes in different directions. Above us, the screeches of the beach birds echoed in the air, letting us know where they were. The tips of my fingers were locked on her skin, stroking her gently as her body was racked with sobs. No words could be uttered from me, for none would help, or improve the situation, the only thing she needed now was a presence, and if hadn't of been me, then it surely would have been someone else. All I cared about in that moment was her, the only thing I've really cared about.

The light of the day was constant, yet dimming, and the blue of the sky was darkened with the grey of the night, and the purple and orange of a setting sun. I wanted her, but I never wanted this. I never wanted it this way. Her heart was broken, not by me, but broken nonetheless, and there was nothing I could say, nothing I could do, but hold her as she cried. Around us, unseen, my wings of mental energy stretched, and I covered us from the world about us, so at the very least, nothing would disturb us as she let her emotions out.

It all began with a death. How long had my mother been gone now? It felt like another lifetime ago, a different world, where I was a different person. Was I better person than? I can't remember. I remember the hospital though, and the bed she laid in, motionless, lifeless. It was my sophomore year of high school, and this was her third stroke. A miracle saved her from the first two, though if the doctors knew the truth, I'm sure the answer would have a more scientific base to it. I know my family was there, but I really don't remember any of them, or their positions. They had told us that she was brain dead, and that even if she came back, she would never be the same. She wouldn't come back though, she couldn't. This world was killing her.

It was the drowning of the sound that the heart monitor made that I remember the most. The constant beeps of the beats of the heart always echo through a hospital room. I was staring at her when it happened, when my world changed. There was a beep, and then suddenly there was darkness. I found myself lit, completely as if I was standing in the midday sun, but at the same time, all around me was the dark. I looked down at my sun-tanned thin arms and large arms, and down to my average torso to my feet. There was no ground, but I wasn't hovering I was standing. I felt her first, and when I turned around, and there she was, but not as I had ever seen her. My mother was standing there, radiating light from her body. Her body was strong, and whole, and youthful, and she wore a long flowing white gown. Her hair was long, a look I had never seen before, and it barely covered her ears, which were no longer and pointed. On her forehead rested a jewel of a dull grey color. Her face wore a smile of compassion, and love. Even with her altered appearance, I recognized her.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"This is a link between our minds," she replied. "A gap in space."

"They told me you were.." I started, before she cut me off.

"I am," she replied. "I'm using the last bit of life to tell you the truth about who I am, and more importantly, who you are." She didn't move, but the distance was closed between us, and she stood with arms length. I wanted to rush into her arms, and have her hold me one last time before I let her go into the void, but I couldn't, I couldn't touch her. "I am not of this world. I am from a planet on the other side of this galaxy, a large planet, with a wondrous race upon it. The planet is known as Mobius, and it's people are as I appear. We are technically advanced race with mental abilities beyond the human race." The darkness became filled with light, and suddenly we stood on the surface of a planet, in the middle of a lush jungle, with plants I've never seen before. Above us, strange crafts moved about, whizzing about as if they were cars on a highway. "Mobius rests at the center of a great Star Kingdom, which spans many different systems." We were pulled back, from the jungle, and I could the ground below us, great cities came into view, clouds, water, land masses, and before you knew it, we were in orbit, and great orbital platforms and starships came into view, then we pulled back more, and there planets and moons, and more stars. "After the end of a great war, the people were weary of the government in place, and a civil war ignited, concluding with the exile of the monarchs of the Kingdom into deep space, my parents, who were allowed to live because of the greatest law the society functions by. Mobiums do not kill Mobiums. I was a mere child when I left, and as we migrated across the stars, we found refuge on this planet, and I was supplanted into a normal human family, in hopes of different way of life." The stars disappeared, and again the darkness returned. My gaze returned to the beautiful, ghostly figure of my mother.

"What am I?" I asked her.

"You are my son," she replied, smiling. "Half human, from your father, and half Mobium. You are the first combination of the two races, and very shortly, you will be the only surviving member of the Royal Family of Mobius."

"Am I dreaming?" I asked, somewhat confused. "Is this real?"

"This is very real, and very important," she told me. "I'm about to provide you with a complete history of our people, along with the knowledge to create some of the technical innovations of our society. This will aid you in what is to come."

"What's coming?" I asked.

"The fate of both humans, and mobiums will soon come together," she said. "I know who you are. I watched you grow, and I raised you. I know the pain you feel, the loneliness that can overwhelm you at times, and the desire you feel for something greater. I am so proud of you for becoming the person you are, and I could never hope for anything better." She placed a hand on my face, and I could feel the tingle of energy as it brushed my cheek. "I will always love you, and my spirit will be along with you in everything you do. You are so special to me." I stared into her eyes, and knowing, this was the last time I could ever say anything to her, I found myself paralyzed by silence. I wanted to say so much, but I knew there just wasn't time, that the moments were fleeting, and before I knew it. She smiled, and said, "Goodbye."

The beep finished, as I returned to reality, and I know what just transpired lasted no longer than a heart beat. On the bed, her body rested, even though her mind was gone for good. She looked different though, angelic almost. I knew there was nothing left to do, but go, and excusing myself, I left the room, never seeing her face again. She was cremated shortly after she died.


	4. Prelude to the Power

I sat in the dark, on a bench, completely surrounded by people, but the only thing that denoted them as people was the white of their eyes. The rest of them was black, like a silhouette, but the eyes were visible. Almost like a cartoon. Outside the sky was dark blue, like the really hours of dawn, when the sun has made the decision to rise, but still hasn't had its cup of coffee to get it going. I looked around, not feel uncomfortable in the dark, but curious as to why everyone so motionless, and without light.

This rift of light opened before me, and I saw this beautiful smile, and a face attached to it, and I knew it was her right away, coming from the rift. She stood in front of me, and the light surrounded her, illuminating her. She sat down on my lap, and wrapped her arms around my neck, her light illuminating me as well. She slowly reached in, as if to kiss me, and then we were running. Running away from the building we were in, the building in my school, we were running from my life, all the while they were chasing us, and we kept running.

We saw this dark house, with this porch light on, and we ran up to it. I opened the door, and she went in first, and I followed her in. I stepped inside, and suddenly it was daytime. I could see through the windows to the blue sky, and the green grass, and there was light all about me, and the white walls of the room. She wasn't there though, she had disappeared. There were stairs in front of me, stairs to another level, as if I was caught in between two. I jogged up, and there in the lobby, I found the other four. There were five of us now, and I knew who and what we were. We were Rangers. We had a mission, we had to find her.

The Green Ranger and I moved down the hallway, and with weapons bared, weapons I had never seen before, we moved over the main room, a library of sorts. In the middle was opening to the lower floor, and looking down, we found nothing. Moving back to the main room, we met with the others, and the Blue Ranger led us to a passage to the basement. We found ourselves in a passage with a window looking out over the grass at ground level. We followed the passage, and led us into a large cavern where we found a strange construct on and underground lake. There our enemy hovered above us, and he warned of us that his revenge was at hand.

She stood at the top of the platform, and I knew she was different. They had changed her, and as I landed next to her, I could see her pain, and anger in her eyes. She charged at me, and I blocked. We fought, swords of mental energy clashing, she was just as strong as I. The battle did not last long though, and I forced her to the edge. She dropped her weapon, and then let herself fall from the platform. I watched her fall from the platform.

I awoke that morning with a start, the dream still fresh in my mind, and never has faded since. Was it a warning, an omen, or did something I eat just send me the wrong way during my slumber. It had been a month since my mother died, and nothing had come about since then. I had this vast amount of information on a people I'd never seen, or felt, or touched. Worlds, I only saw in my imagination, and technology, I seemed to only the skill to build, and it was certain skills, the powers my mother spoke of, to build these devices. To what end, I still didn't know. That was the scariest thing about that time, not knowing.

I did know a few things though. I knew the people who were Rangers in my dreams, but more importantly, I knew her. For every great male hero, there is a great girl in his life, a catalyst that sparks its very beginning, and she is no different. She was, and still is amazingly beautiful. Her face is angelic, and it seems like her very smile spills light from her soul. Her eyes are mesmerizing, and her golden hair captures the light around her. She's the classic beauty too, the round figure, the modest but enticing bust line. She's perfect, no doubt about that.

If she has one flaw its that she wears her heart on her shoulder for all to see, and sometime, the fragility of it is raptured, and pain is unfortunately brought into her life. More than anything in my life do I wish to protect, but her heart will never be mine to protect, solely to watch. I can never be with her, not because we couldn't find some way to make work, not because its not possible, but because if I ever did, then she'd either die, like in my dream, or I'd lose my path in life. And after what happened next, this is a path, I cannot lose. Too many people are now counting on its completion.


	5. Go

I was laying in bed, and I could feel the change happening. It wasn't like anything I had felt before. At first I thought that maybe the medication I was taking was adversely affecting me, that my mind was wrapped in its effects. Something told me otherwise. I turned over, and faced the door to my dorm room. It had been six months from the day I had the dream, and it was cloudy outside, dark and gloomy. I stood up, and left my room, feeling the air move around me as I did, it was different, almost like each strand of air had a different story to tell, and returned different feelings, like each molecule of air was linked to something, and I could feel the links between them. My sight was different. I saw the world around me, but it was brighter, and the same time different, like I had double vision. One layer wasn't making any sense. I moved around the building, since classes were done for the day, and I made my way down to the main hallway of the school. I looked at the different students in the school, and something didn't seem right. I saw them, but I saw something else too. One layer, I saw their physical persona, on the other I saw the same persona, but with their eyes closed. All around me there were people with their eyes closed, and it wasn't because they were shutting them. Most of them seemed like they had no way of opening, but there were a few, a rare few that seemed to be forcing them shut with all their energy, almost like they were scared to open them and look around.

I left the main hallway, and some how found myself in the school's theatre, more specifically in a very dark room. The door closed behind me, almost dramatically, and it seemed to me like it was pitch black. A second later, it all changed. I saw everything around me, as if the light in the room had been turned on, but I was wearing sunglasses, and to make matters suddenly stranger, I could feel everything, like I was running my fingers along all the objects at once, and then I took hold of something. I could feel part of me latch on to it, like picking up a remote on the couch, and then brought it towards me. It flew threw the air, until I reached out, and grabbed it with my hand, and held it the object there in my hand. I felt this tingling sensation, and this blinding flash, and I dropped the object. My mind was open, and finally unlocked like it had never been before. I could feel everything around me, as if it pure energy, and I could feel, and sense my connection to everything. I clenched my fists, and suddenly everything around me began slowly levitating from its resting position. Slowly I let the objects return to where I had first moved them, and left the room. Something was indeed different. I felt more confident than I ever had before, and this overwhelming feeling of connecting to life flowed through me. It was a kind of spiritual, and mental ascension that I had achieved, and I had no doubt this was the ability my mother spoke of almost a year ago. Now I was ready to finally accept a heritage that had been bestowed upon me by my birth, and in my mind there was only one way, one symbol that conveyed the idea that I was about to put forth.

"You want me to help you do what?" he asked. It was the beginning of winter break, and I found myself in the presence of a long time friend and mentor, Sean. He had been my teacher for the first year of high school, but left afterwards to pursue his own life goals. I had always sought out his advice before on many different things, and now, as I was about to undertake this ultimate human challenge, I sought his help in pulling it off. "I mean the story you told me is nothing less than fantastic, and if you didn't just show me your telekinetic abilities, I'd say it was a strange story."

"I know what you must be feeling," I replied. "If you think its hard to grasp, imagine how I feel. Some days I feel completely in control, like I have a handle on it all, and other days the energy practically consumes me, and drives me within myself."

Sean stared straight at me. "That's probably because you're not totally alien. Some days your human side, just isn't strong enough."

"But it's going to be my human side which is going to keep me ground while I do this," I replied. "What do you say?"

"You want to be a Power Ranger?" he asked. "Can you actually do it?"

"I've got the technology," I countered, smiling. "Half of its already done."

"This is wild," he responded, laughing, and standing up. "What am I suppose to do, be Zordon?"

"Not quite," I replied. "More like Billy."

He shook his head, and looked around at the dishes in his sink. "How serious is this going to get?"

"You're talking to a half alien Sean," I said sarcastically. "It's pretty serious."

"I suppose if I let you do this alone, you're only going to get yourself in trouble," he said, turning back to face me.

"Exactly," I replied smiling.

"I'm in," he said. "But only for now." I nodded back at him. I had my partner, now the real challenge began, as I was about to see if I had what it took to be a real hero.


	6. Ranger Up

I'd love to tell you that what happened next was a successful, and marvelous first initation of my new powers. That suddenly the world was threatened, and I successfully managed to defend the world with alarming precision and inguenity that allowed everyone to see that I was capable of doing such, but that would be a lie. Let's just say that my first time didn't go so smoothly. We were still a week from testing my powers for the first time, when this almost impossible situation happened. I remained at school still full time, but late at night I would sneak out by portaling to Sean in Chicago, and working on my powers. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that didn't I. You see it seems each Mobium has access to some sort of unique ability. We all look very much alike, and aren't as differentiated as humans as far as facial features, and skin color, so for some reason, evolution helped make everyone more unique by giving them some special gift, in addition to our normal evolutionary abilities. Mine was the ability to create short wormholes between the place I was now, and some place I had been before. If I had never been to a place I was trying to get to, then I was restricted to normal transportation like everyone else. It's quite a funny story how I managed to find out about this ability, but that is for another time.

As I said before, we were still a week away from testing my powers, but everything was ready to go. There were just a few minor modifications to make to some of the alien technology to the human end of it. Some of it didn't mesh as well as I had originally hoped. I was in the middle of a class though when I heard it. At first I thought maybe I was imagining things, still a little anxious for the testing, but then it sounded again. Only I heard it though. Sitting on my wrist was a device I called a "Lens." It was a black wrist band that I had made from scrap suede, and atop it was a red crystal, almost shape like an oversized rhinestone. However, inside the crystal was crystalline circuitry that allowed the crystal to function as a type of lens which was used to harness energy from a layer of energy throughout the known galaxy. My mother's people had no name for it, but many of them tapped into it. Sean and I on the other hand, referred to it as "The Grid." The power that was pulled into my lens was converted to morph energy which was then used to create the armor that I would wear as a Ranger. My mother's people did something similar, or at least the military aspect of them did. Some artists used it to morph material into art, others used it in construction of starships, and buildings.

However, what I was referring to earlier was a built in communications system that linked directly to my mind. It was like a telepathic radio. I had heard the mental beep, then again, finally I heard Sean's voice.

"You there?" he asked, so only I could hear. Turning my attention away from the class, I looked down at my book.

"I'm always here," I replied. "It's my mind."

"Yeah," he said, "I keep forgetting."

"What's up?" I asked.

"I was flipping through the channels, and noticed that there is a man hunt in your area," he said.

"A man hunt," I replied. "For whom?"

"A man believed to be wanted for rape," he said, at least according to the television.

"Maybe the police should handle this one," I said.

"They could," he said, "but it could also be a good chance to test out some of your powers."

"I guess," I replied, not knowing what else to say. I wanted to help people with these powers I had been given, and I was sort of anxious to do good in anyway I could, almost trigger happy in a way. Thinking about it, I realized that catching a rapist might be a good start. How was I going to get out of class though?

"Do they have any leads?" I asked.

"There's a search party with dogs out by you," he replied. My school was not very rural, but it was surrounded by a very big forest, which in turn was surrounded by a very big suburbia.

"I'll have to go once school is over," I replied.

"Yeah," he said, "who knows though, maybe they'll catch him."

"Hopefully," I replied. I wanted to help, but the faster they caught him, it would probably be better. Several classes later, and my day was over though. This year wasn't so great, because I really didn't have any classes with her, and while I usually would of did my afternoon athletics, and then found her and sat talked for a while, if I was lucky, today something much more important was going to take my time.

I headed for the woods, as the sun began to set. It was early, but it was winter, so the sun does that kind of thing. The air was cool, and crisp, winters up north are always dark and cold. I wore a thick jacket, and warm pair of pants, but marching around in the woods with the setting light was still cold. There were still patches of snow on the ground from the last time it had snowed, but they were still melting. I walked down the main path until it hit the lake, then began to make my way around it, not really knowing what to look for. Sean had reported to me a description released by law enforcement, but I thought based on all the ground they were covering, it was a slim chance he'd be around here. Being wrong is something I don't like to be.

I sensed him before I saw him, his life reading faint, and tired. I could almost hear his panting before I made it near him, but I could tell he could hear me walking, and decided to play silent. His alertness to my presence made me nervous, and on edge, but trying not to indicate that I knew he was there, I continued walking, as if I hadn't felt anything.

Things became tense just as I was about to pass by him, both of us knowing we were there, and he wondering if I knew.

"Don't scare him," said Sean, who had been listening in. "He'll do something stupid if he feels cornered."

"Do me a favor and get the grid online," I said. The "Grid" stretched across the entire galaxy, but out here on one of the arms, it was somewhat faint, so we had I guess what you could call signal boosters which collected the energy and piped it to us at its normal rate.

"Morphing Grid, online," he reported, and I could feel the soft glow from the lens as it shined as the grid energy passed around it. Finally I had stopped near him, and could not only feel his pulse race, but his eyes on me. I realized what an idiot I had been for stopping, but only for a split second as he lurched towards me.

Time froze, as I spun around, and stopped him in mid air, the soft gleam of his knife being reflected in the rising moon. He was suspended in mid air by my mind, and the only part he could move was his eyes, which were on the verge of panic. I released him more out of surprise than anything else, and let him fall to the ground. I took up a defensive position, and as I put my left hand out in front, my lens became exposed from the cuff of my jacket, the red glowing light gleaming in the night.

"What are you?" he managed to croak out.

"I'm here," I stared, stammering some, "to take you in."

"No!" he said, and swung at me. I jumped backwards cursing my stupidity for leaving him armed. He swung again, and this time slashed part of my jacket. Fortunatley, he didn't make contact with my midsection, but not risking it again, I decided it was time to make sure he couldn't.

"Here we go," said Sean. "What's it going to be, morphing time?"

"Not quite," I replied mentally. I managed to lengthen the distance between me and my attacker. I glared at him, knowing how easily he was set off, and how much harm he could do this place. For a moment I paused, and at first nothing came, but I knew there was bound to be something, some slogan that would propel me forward, and then without thinking, it hit me. "Ranger Form, Energize!" I reached forward with my left hand, and my right hand came up and clasped around the Lens. A light of red energy surrounded my body for but an instant, and then it was gone leaving me changed. The darkness hid most of my form, but I knew what was there. Red boots led into black leggings wrapped in red armor on the more vulnerable parts. A silver belt met the leggings at my waist, before the black continued up my midsection and down my arms. Red armor wrapped around my chest, and over my shoulders, down the outside of my arms, and finally to my red leatherly gloves. It spanned down my back, and connected to my leg armor. Finally the black part of the suit ran up my neck where it connected to a well defined red helmet, with a black visor, and silver mouthpiece in front.

From my point of view it was a flash, and then my normal vision became different as a digital screen was suddenly in front of me. I had managed to incorporate a Heads Up Display into the visor which fed me back relative information to my vision. I turned towards the attacker, and noticed the look of fear in his eyes. He turned to run, and I gave chase. He was heading towards the school, and I couldn't let him get there.

"Everything reads normal," said Sean. "Though, I can't imagine what normal might be yet."

"He's heading towards the school," I responded.

"I know," said Sean, "I'm processing video from your visor. I'm seeing, what you are."

"Can you alert the authorities?" I queired.

"As what, an anonymous tip," he said. "You're going to have to catch him."

"I don't know if I can," I replied.

"Can't you freeze him again?" he asked.

"Already tried," I said, my focus to the communications wearing down as I continued running. The armor weighed almost nothing as it was supposed to do, and some of it actually increased my normal physical abilities. It still wore on me a little though.

"Shoot him," said Sean.

"Right," I said, why didn't I think of that. I reached down to my right side, and pulled free what looked like a futuristic laser blaster. It was actually a common kind of laser pistol that my people used, and that I had incorporated from the schematics my mom left me. My weapon however was a little less lethal. I raised the weapon, and using the HUD in my helmet to aim, fired. A bolt of energy streaked across the sky, crackling through the air, and missed the guy by almost nine yards.

"Try again," said Sean.

"Are you laughing?" I asked, hearing the faintest sound of humor in his voice.

"No, of course not," he replied, though I swore I heard him snicker. I stopped running, and then took my time aiming. This time I fired, and the bolt raced through the air striking his leg. He fell to the ground, and as I closed in on him, I could tell he was in a good deal of pain, though he would live. I kicked the knife away from where he had dropped it so he couldn't spring for it. I kept the gun leveled in my right hand, and slowly dropped to my knee.

"Surrender," I told him.

"I give up," he nearly cried out. "Please, don't hurt me."

"I told you," I said, a little more confidently, "I'm here to take you in."

"Please, don't hurt me," he echoed again. I shook my head, and then turned as I heard a twig crack. I was nearly blinded, as a flashlight filled my visors screen.

"Hold it," said a voice. "Hands up, Police." I put a gloved hand up to block the light, and saw three officers standing there with guns leveled.

"It's okay," I told them, "the threat has been neutralized." I stood up, and heard the click of their guns as they cocked them.

"Don't move," said the lead one.

"It's fine guys," I said raising an arm, but the gun went off, and struck my armor. Not good.

"Get out of there," I heard Sean, practically scream. Without thinking I waved my hand, and a portal opened, and I dove into it, as the rapist, and the police stood by staring in awe.


	7. Conference

When something went wrong backn in those days, I would find myself depressed, or sad. Sean and I talked about the reaction of those law enforcers on the scene, and realized that this was probably to be expected until people found out about me, and then there would be different reactions. I still shook me up some, even getting shot at. You tell yourself your ready, and prepared, that this kind of thing is easy, and that your different than everyone else. Its not though. Its strange, and crazy and weird, and then after your first time you began to worry. Will I be able to react if the situation calls for it, or will I just jumble everything up? Can I do this, do I have the ability, the capacity?

These days, I don't get sad or upset, I get angry. I know I have the ability, and the strength, but when I screw up, or when something goes wrong, you still get mad. Mad at yourself that is. You beat yourself up over the smallest things. You take it hard, and there's no one you can talk to about it, because no one around you can understand what its like. Well, maybe some of the members of the military. Its lonely sometimes, which is why I became the kind of person who has that far off distant look. I wish I could tell you that it got better after that, that things began to get easier, and that I got it down quickly. It didn't happen that way, but before I get to what comes next, let me tell you about this girl that I've been going on about for too long now.

Even with the distraught of my first conflict, I still managed somehow to assume my normal life. Its like the Ranger thing is like a dream sometimes, something I go and do, and then come back to my life. One of the Beatles once said, "Life is everything between the major events." He was right on, on that one. I set aside my confusion with my abilities for one moment, and instead set upon my confusion with the opposite sex instead.

We had this thing, she and I. Every week, well almost every week, we would meet at lunch and sneak off towards the theatre. There we'd sit in the empty audience area, and just talk. One of my close friends refers to that period of his life as a simplier time. In some way it was. It was simple, just a boy and a girl talking in an empty room. It was innocent enough, because we talked about everything, but it was more like we were talking at each other, lately I've begun to wonder if we ever talked to each other, or rather if either one of us actually heard each other.

I sat down next to her in the theatre, where we met every Friday to sit and talk. It was an empty theater, with no lights on, but it was the middle of the day, and all the emergency exits at every row were glass doors that let the mid day light into the room. Why they were there in a theatre never made any sense, but such was the way it was.

She led the way down the row, and sat in a seat, and I sat next to her. Her mind was elsewhere, focused on what was, while mine was focused on what was going to be.

"I tried something new last week," I told her.

"Yeah?" she said, turning to face me with that smile of hers. "What?"

"Just a new game," I replied, lying. "I'm really getting into it. The plot is really...interesting."

Her attention focused back to her thoughts, and she stared right ahead.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"This guy I'm dating," she told me. "He's being a jerk."

"So kick his butt," I said smiling, trying to hide my disdain for her current boyfriend.

"Yeah," she said. "I probably should."

"What's he doing?" I asked her, turning to a more serious tone.

"Its the way he's doing it," she replied, still staring straight ahead. Iwas in a fix, I didn't know what to say, or what to do. These problems were sort of outside my range, and I understood very little about romantic relationships to really help I guess. The best thing I could do was listen, and hoped that help. "Do you ever feel like, things should work a certain way, but then they turn out completely different than you expected, and you sort of wonder, why you even bothered to expect them a certain way to begin with?"

Flashing back to my earlier run in with the cops as the Red Ranger, I nodded. "Yeah."

"I don't know," she said. "Things will get better."

"I sure hope so," I said, still dwelling on my thoughts.

"Is everything alright?" she asked.

"Yeah," I lied. "I'm just wondering whether or not I'm capable of doing something."

"What's that?" she asked.

"I need to take on this responsibility," I said. "My dad is giving it to me."

"What is it?" she asked.

"Just this thing," I said.

"Just a thing?" she repeated, but shrugged. "Well, do you want to do it."

"Sort of," I said. "I know I have to do it."

"Do you feel like you can do it?"

"I'm not sure yet," I replied.

"I'm sure if you put your mind to it, you will," she said. "I have faith in you."

"Really?"

"No," she said, and laughed. "Just make sure you do it well." She turned to face me, and gave me this look that I'm sure Helen gave at some points to the fleets of Greece, which set them upon the sea.

"You shouldn't look at me like that," I told her.

"Why?" she asked innocently.

"You might make me do something amazing," I replied, locking my eyes on her, and grinning.


	8. Take 2

"So why are we doing this again?" asked Sean over the com-link. I jumped across a rooftop in the city of Philadelphia, flying over the alley below as the night closed in around me, obscuring me from view.

"Uh," I offered, "practice makes perfect." I landed on the roof without a sound, and continued running, jumping and landing on the next one.

"Do you expect to find something," he asked. "Do you know how rare it is to actually stumble on to a crime in progress?"

"Much better if you're actually looking for it I imagine," I replied optimistically.

"This is such a bad idea," he added. "You could get hurt or worse."

"Or worse is going to happen some day," I told him seriously, stopping in the process. "This isn't the movies, or the television show. There isn't going to be a host of monsters from evil space aliens, or an army of goons. Its going to be different than that, and I have no idea what to expect. Its not like I have a martial arts background or anything, and luckily video games have taught me the basics of using a firearm of any kind."

"Good old Duck Hunt," replied Sean with a laugh. I shook my head, and looked around. Undetectable I was, but it was weird to be on a roof top and see all the city lights. Sean could see it too. "Nobody has ever done anything like this before."

"First time for everything," I offered, though I don't think I helped cool his nerves. I started moving again, using my basic telekinetic abilities to move in the air.

"So how are classes?" he asked, trying to change subjects.

"They su..." I started as I landed on another rooftop, but was cut off as I heard a voice from below. I turned around and went over to the roof ledge, and looked down.

"What's up?" asked Sean, but instead of answering I turned my attention to below.

"Please, just take all my cash," said a frightened middle-aged woman. "Just don't hurt me." She was backed into an alleyway by two guys a little bit younger than her. They looked rough around the edges, and their clothes only seemed to heightend the image. The thing that call my eye was that one of them was holding a metal blade, whose glint I caught in the dark.

"Oh boy," said Sean, who had obviously seen it too. "Here we go."

"I don't know," said a rough voice. "Its been a while since I had a good lay. What about you?" His partner chuckled, and looked over at the woman, who was now practically in tears as she heard her fate. This only seemed to enhance the aggresive nature of the two. "Yeah you'll do nicely."

I landed inbetween the two parties, facing the aggressors, having lept from the roof above. Even though it was several stories, I used my powers to soften the fall. The aggressors were taken by surprise, considering what I was wearing, and how I entered onto the scene.

"Who the hell are you?" asked the other one, who had not spoken until now.

"Isn't it about time you guys were getting home for the night?" I asked cautiously, hoping my mere precense would encourage their depature. I was unfortantley in error.

"Screw you," said the lead one, taken a slash at my suit. The blade slammed into it, as it would metal armor. I then grabbed his wrist, and twisted it clockwise, until he dropped the knife. Watching him grimace in pain, I then kicked him in the stomach, and sent him flying backwards into the alley. His partner swung at me, and I reached up and blocked it.

"Doing good so far kid," I heard Sean say over the comlink. I shoved the attacker forward and he stumbled over his partner and fell to the ground. I regained my compsure and stood up straight over them.

"Anything else you guys need to night?" I asked them. They stumbled over each other getting up, slowly moved away.

"Screw it," said the second. "Its not worth this."

I watch them leave, and then turned back to face the woman. "Are you alright?"

"Yes," she said, nodding her head at the same time.

"You better get out of here too," I told her. "Its not a nice place around her this time of night." I walked past her deeper into the alley.

"Who are you?" she asked me, and I stopped for a second.

"Don't say something cliche and tacky," I heard Sean say over the comm.

I paused for a moment, and half turned back. "Don't worry about me, I'm nobody." Then without thinking, I floated off the ground, and propelled myself into the sky, soaring towards the clouds with delight.


	9. The Next Phase

I closed my eyes as I hit the ground, focusing my mind, and preparing to release my power. It rushed into me like air flowing over my body, and then I casted it from my mind like a mage releasing a magical spell. It struck my target head on, flinging him into the wall behind him. I had interrupted four guys in the middle of convience store robbery. This guy was the fortunate one to recieve the full power of my attacked. The other three, armed, turned towards me, and fired. I dove to the floor seeking cover, and managed to slide straight down the chip aisle. Around me I could hear the air-sealed bags being forced open by the shots of metal.

I jumped up, and pulling my blaster, also known as an Enea, from my side, fired a stun shot at a guy to my right. Luckily I caught him in the arm causing him to drop to the ground, and drop his gun all at the same time. Two shots of lead though hit me in the main chestplate, and I recoiled backwards some from the impact. I levelled my Enea again though and fired a shot hitting the guy in the chest, causing him to fall backwards into a stack of canned soft drinks.

The last guy decided to make a break for it, and as he bolted for the door, I took several shots of them, all of them missing, the last charring the glass in the door a nice burnt color. Watching him go, I was pretty certain he wasn't going to come back, so I turned my attention back to the clerk, who was still cowering behind the counter.

"You okay man?" I asked him.

Slowly he peeked his eyes out over the counter, and looked at the several stunned robbers, and me. He was still quite shakey it seemed, but he at least managed to get out a few words. "Yeah, I'm...okay."

"These guys should be out until the cops get here," I told him, hoping that would make him feel a little bit better. "Uh, sorry about the Dorritos." I turned to look at the damage to the store, which was pretty minimal thankfully, and luckily no one was hurt.

"Don't worry about it," said the clerk, still somewhat confused.

"Have a good night man," I told him, as I waved my hand. A shimmering portal of dark blue light appeared, and I stepped into it, probably shocking the last of the clerk's nerves. Instantly I was transported back to school grounds, actually into one of the bathroom stalls of the floor I lived in.

"Release," I thought, and around me the armor I wore glowed and then flowed away like water off my body until it dissolved around me. I left the bathroom and returned to my room.

It was late at night and no one was about the main hall, so I made it back to my room. Ever since that night in the alley, I want on patrol, almost like a requirement. Usually Sean was asleep too so it was just me, all alone out there in the world trying to do some good. More than anything it was a drive, a desire, like my whole life should revolve around helping others, and I needed to help them not for anyone else, but for myself most of all. People like to talk about how they deserve things sometimes. They talk about how hard they worked to get something, or that they lost something so they deserve something else. I am fortuante enough to have some things, but there are other things I don't have, like love, that some say I deserve. In my mind though, you have to earn things in life. I saved some lives, a good deal of lives actually, but I still feel like I haven't done enough to earn someone else in my life, and in those days I felt it even more. Sure I had save one or two people, but it wasn't enough, and that was what brought me back to those rooftops every night, and that's what it would continue to do so. I did it because it was good, because it was right, because I had the power to do it, and I did it, because I needed to do it to earn the right to certain things in life.

Of course this late night patrolling often left me tired, and drained for the next few days, and I found out that this was actually a bad thing for it left me more mentally drained than anything else did, and I started making mistakes, but much like an addiction I couldn't stop, it was something I felt overwhelmingly that I had to do. Maybe if I had shutup, and listened to my more responsible stuff, than Evan would have never found about who I was, and one of my worst enemies of all time would of never been created.


	10. Evan

Authour's Note: Every so often now through the continuation of the story, I'll be offering Track Inserts which are music tracks which I think would go well with a certain part, i.e. theme music, morphing sequences, fight scenes and the like. They are simply recommendations. Also, let me say thanks to the readers, and the reviewers, I hope you enjoy the rest of the story.

It was stupid of me, the dumbest thing I would ever do, but there are moments we all have when we just don't think things through. We react without thinking, and then something happens, and the result is a consequence we have to deal with for the rest of our lives. These situations are unavoidable at best, and destructive at worst. We all know the idea of a Ranger, they rarely make mistakes, and their mistakes are often rectifable, but its just a myth, because in reality, mistakes are mistakes, and the larger the scale, the higher the risk, the more costly the mistake.

In the north during the winter, the sun sets at five in the afternoon, and by six there is pitch black, since the moon rise is generally not for several hours after. Usually, right around six, while the other students attended dinner in the main dining room, I finished my job at the student center, then headed towards the woods to train. I'd jog down the main path, and then do a lap around the lake. Sure it was cold, but when you have telekinetic powers, and can wrap a small field of energy around your body to trap in the heat, and let a little cold air in to mix to make it just right, it wasn't so bad. I wouldn't train in martial arts, because I didn't know any, and the only fighting style I could really use was just basic kicks and punches. My weapon of course was telekinesis, and for that I needed isolation, and six at night in the middle of the woods during the winter was isolation at its finest, or so I thought.

The key to combat with telekinesis is your environment, what could be used as projectiles, what could be used to create cover, and shields. In the woods it was sticks and stones, and occasionally water. After one or two snow storms, I experimented with using ice, and snow as weapons. Icy is far from maleable at best, and cannont be reformed in any reguards, and the only thing I could do with snow was create a cascade of snow balls that could be hurled at any target, but it was still funny to watch. Most of the time I concentrated on forcing the telekinetics into small field of energy to block martial weapons, or projectiles, and then using them to fight. Occasionally, on the darkest of nights, I would practice levitation, and flying. I couldn't straight out fly, but I could jump pretty high, and float, or glide. It made jumping from tall buildings easier. I still wasn't faster than a locamotive.

One evening I found myself in the midst of training, I was working on my marksmenship with telekinetics by flinging stones at the center of a tree. The majority, seemed to hit, but every so often my focus would be distracted, and several missed. I tried to keep my mind as clear as possible, but at the same time after several weeks of training at night, I had become complacent in my surroundings, and did not actively keep an ear out for people around me. I tried to sense every so often for other people, but I spaced it out, not keeping it up at every second like I would during a battle.

With my arm outstretched, and flung another stone at the trunk of a tree striking it dead center where it was, when I heard the alarm go off. Not always using my mind to respond, I tapped the the jewel of lens with my finger letting the sensor detect my DNA, and establishing the communications link.

"Go Sean," I said outloud admist the trees.

"There's some trouble in Batlimore if you want to lend a hand," he reported. I closed my eyes and smiled. Study Hall was less than an hour away, but I thought maybe I could fit it in real fast.

"Sure," I replied.

"Its just north of the harbour," he replied. I nodded and concentrated for a moment trying to remember a few places nearby, and then slowly I focused on the place, and waved my hand at the air in front of me. Slowly a portal slowly began to shimmer into existance.

"Hit it," I told him.

"Morphing Grid, Online."

I smiled, thinking about how I never got tired of this part. "Ranger Form, Energize!"

Track Insert - Guardian Morphing Sequence - Apoptygma Berzerk - Kathy's Song

The energy rushed through me, and over me, and several seconds later, I was covered in my armor. I entered the portal, and went to work.

What I didn't realize though is that the whole time I had been watched in the darkness by someone I thought I knew, but someone who like me would be forced to change by circumstances beyond his control.

I returned from the mission just in time to make it to the two hour required homework period known as Study Hall. I stumbled into my room, nodding at my roommate, and sat down and did as little work as possible. I was tired, and the episode in Baltimore had taken a little more energy out of me then I had wanted.

After the period ended though, I headed over to my friends room. Xander, and Zach two of my closest best friends shared a dorm room. Zach was this big guy from Alaska who had the rare and unique trait of having firey red hair, and Xander was this well-built guy from North Carolina who had blonde hair, and blue eyes. They were both big time gamers, spending a good deal of their time in front of their computers, or sitting around a table playing some game or the other, which I also found quite fun. I sat down in one of their chairs and we talked for a little while.

"What's up guys?" I asked.

"What's up Keizle?" asked Zach, staring at his computer monitor.

"What do you have up?" I asked.

"Diablo 2," responded Zach. "Xander and I are running through hell again."

"I really wish we could get on Battle Net," said Xander, "it would be so much better."

"Yeah," I said. "Internet connections in our rooms would be great."

"Yeah, but you'd you probably just be playing EQ all the time piggy," Zach said, directly his statement towards Xander.

"So?" he asked. The door opened behind me, and Evan came into the room.

The look on his face was quizzical when he saw me, but at the time it didn't seem to bother me. Evan was very like me, especially physically, a little taller, we had roughly the same build, but his hair was a lot darker than mine. We ran in some of the same circles most of the time. Evan was quite elegant in his language sometimes too, his remarks about a situation sometimes more realistic, and true than any of us cared for.

"Hey dude," said Zach greeting him as he entered.

"What are you guys up to?" asked Evan, once he was inside the room.

"Diablo 2," I answered for them.

"Killing a great deal of demons," said Evan reflectively, "an ancient gamers pastime."

"Word," said Xander, clicking away at the game. We sat for a little while, watching the other two play the game, and chatted about it, and the logistical aspects of it.

"I'm going to head off to bed guys," I told them all. "Gonna turn in early." The episode from before still left me a little drained. I opened the door and headed towards the hallway.

"Yeah, all that power must be getting to you," said Evan. I stopped and turned around, looking back at him. I was caught off guard by the comment, and concerned and confused at the same time.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing," he replied.

"Night bro," said Xander, oblivious to the comment.

"Later Keizle," said Zach. I turned back towards the hallway, and headed back to my room. Maybe I was just over tired from earlier, and I was hearing things, but it was still a strange to say. I fell asleep quickly, but halfway through the night I woke up, and headed to the bathroom.

I stood before the sink washing my hands when I suddenly felt another presence in the room. I looked in the mirror as I heard the door shut, and saw Evan come into the room.

"Good Evening," he said, cyncism creeping into his voice. "How's our champion of light this evening?"

I shut off the facet, and shook my head, "What?"

"I never had the opportunity to talk to a real hero before," he said, "wanted to make sure I got it right."

"What are you talking about?" I asked him, confusion and concern drifting into my voice. Had someone finally stumbled onto my secret?

"I saw your little training session in earlier this evening, including your little power charge," he told me.

"I don't know what you think you saw Evan, but I think you must have gotten it wrong," I told him. He grinned, telling me he didn't believe me.

"You keep spinning lies like this to me, and I'll tell everyone your secret," he replied.

"What would that be?" I asked him.

He leaned in close, and grinned, then whispered, "That you're a Power Ranger. I mean hey that's not the way I would of gone, and it seems a little bit childish, but knowing you that seems pretty much accurate."

I stared straight ahead. Suddenly I was both stunned, and upset. I had become to complacent in my training sessions, and someone had gotten the drop on me without my realization. Once more they had also seen me morph, and now what were they going to do with that information. Evan was someone who was just going to sit on it, or act like he thought it was amazing, and was glad for me. He had something up his sleeve, and now I had the benefit of trying to uncover just what that was.

He watched for a moment, and then smiled again, "Tell you what I'm going to do, you let me in on your little secret order of Power Rangers," he said, "and I won't tell anyone about what I saw."

I had two ways to play this, either try and call his possible bluff, which I didn't think he was doing at the moment, or come clean, and hope that would satisify his curiosity. "Duplicating the powers is not possible."

He smiled, a grin of triumph. "Bull."

"Its true," I told him. "There's no way to reproduce what happened to me." I tried to keep the other secret, the one about me only being part human, still a secret, because obviously he still hadn't managed to stumble onto that yet.

"There aren't any more like you?" he asked.

"Not that I know of," I replied. He turned away looking somewhat frustrated, like he had lost the upper hand, but it was only momentary for a second later he turned back around.

"Well here's what were going to do," he said. "You're going to work for me now."

"Doesn't work like that," I told him. "This isn't some game, and my power isn't for sale to blackmailers."

"Fine," he replied, turning to leave, "then I'll just have to deliver the tape I have to every news source that wants it." One thing about me is that I have a very short level of patience after being woken up, doesn't matter if it's the middle of the night, or an hour after I get up in the morning, it still tends to be a little while before I'm at my full level of patience, and at that moment, he had exhausted the last bit of it. I pulled him back with my mind, and forced him against the wall, facing towards me. My eyes flashed red as they always do when I use my mental abilities, and I looked at him.

My voice came out calm, and quiet, building slowly as the statement progressed, "Listen to me very carefully. This is real life, and if you want to mess with someone like me, you're going to get burned, bad. I'm not going to be your pawn, so if you want to go ahead and release that tape and make everyone's life harder, including your own, then go ahead and do it. If you want to protect yourself though, I'd heed my advice, DO NOT screw with me." I let him fall to the ground, and he crumpled. A look of horror had spread across his face, and terror stricken he tore off towards the entrance. Quickly, I realized I had just made the situation worse, so I followed him. I made it into the hallway just as he made to the stairwell. I could hear him fly down the stairs, the noise echoing up threatening to awaken everyone, and then I would be in really big trouble. I took off after him, using my abilities to make my descent much more stealth like. Finally I reached the bottom of the stairs and heard the door to the outside slam shut. I could feel the coldness of the winter night surround me, and even though I had yet to set foot outside, I covered myself with a mental barrier.

I took a step into the cold, noticing how it was raining lightly, the remaining snow being turned into slush. I could not see nor sense Evan anywhere, and decided that if I had been in his position, straight would have been the best direction to run. I headed towards the rec fields when I saw it. A bright flash, followed by a loud thunderbolt. They were exceedingly rare this time of year, but not unheard of, and it was quite nearby. I realized what I meant, and quickly hurried forward.

I found him lying in a snow drift. He appeared unhurt, but his eyes were open, and he was looking towards the sky, he had this calm look on his face, like he was peaceful, but at the same time, like something was different. He was out cold, and lying in the snow in barely anything didn't help things at all. I grabbed him, and stealthy turned him into Sick Bay without anyone noticing, hopefully, he'll forget the whole thing in the morning, I hoped I would.


	11. Light and Dark

I didn't sleep well the rest of the night. I kept having dreams of being dragged out of my bed by men in black, or worse. When the morning came though, and I was still safe in my bed, I was somewhat surprised, and a little bit relaxed. What it probably meant was the Evan was still out cold, or spent the whole night sleeping. Maybe thought the whole thing was a bad dream.

I went through most of my classes that day feeling the effects of my night sleep, and still pretty nervous that someone would burst through the doors looking for me, and ready to ask a lot of questions I wasn't prepared to answer. I finally made it to my set design class after school though without being taken into custody, and with no sign of Evan. Though both were in their fair share relieving, both were also puzzling too. I wasn't quite sure what it all meant, except for the fact that it meant something.

"Yo dude," said Xander, as I entered into the scene shop behind the stage, "what's up?"

"Nothing," I said calmly, still quite tired.

"You okay?" he asked. "You don't look so good."

"I'm really tired," I told him. "Didn't get much sleep."

"I thought you were going to turn in early?" he asked.

"Did," I replied, "didn't help."

"Bummer," he said. I ascended a scaffolding to the top of the piece of set I was working on. It was the end of a train platform for the winter musical we were doing. I heard the main door to the shop open, and as I done all day, quickly turned to see who it was.

It was Anna. She was a friend of mine, and she practically burst through the doors. She looked up at me, and my work. She was average height for a girl her age, with long blonde hair. Her eyes were a light blue, and her facial effects made her attractive. She had a very athelitc body because she spent a good deal of her time doing Diving on the swim team.

"Ooo," she cooed, "is that the train station?"

"Yeah," I said, stapling one of the shingles to the roof. "Looks pretty good, I think."

"You did a pretty good job Keith," she said.

"Thanks," I returned. "Shouldn't you be at diving practice?"

"I was on my way there," she said. "Have you or Xander seen Evan at all today?"

"No," I lied. "Why?"

"I just haven't seen him all day," she said.

"I thought he annoyed you," I replied, a smile on my face.

"Still," she said.

"If I see him, I'll tell him your looking for him," I said.

"Okay," she said, then turned to leave.

"I wonder where he got to," said Xander coming over.

"I'm sure he's around somewhere," I said. Just where though is where I was wondering.

I usually had to leave half way through the class to go to work, so I left by way of the loading dock doors. There two big doors which sound usually doesn't pass through. Just as I was moving to leave though, I felt it. I couldn't explain it, but it was like the back of my neck was tingling, and I felt afraid, like I had to move. The theatre rested on a hill next to a small wooded area, and the loading dock was on the opposite side of the hill. It rested a story and a half above the ground, with at least a twenty foot drop on the far side. I grabbed the support railing and through myself over towards the ground far below, just as I heard this crackling behind me. I only caught a white flash as I fell, my main focus on controlling my landing with my mental abilities. I hit the ground, and rolled forward, and then got to my feet taking a defensive position. I searched with my eyes through the few trees in front of me. I could see the road through the trees, but it, and the rec fields beyond were empty. I extended my senses mentally and tried to feel out my attacker.

I felt the same feeling as before, and I dived to my right, just as a bolt of energy struck where I had been standing. Then there was a flash, and there fifty feet in front of me stood Evan.

"A crazy thing happened to me the other night," he said. "I was struck by lightning. You know what it felt like? This!" He casted his hand forward and a bolt raced towards me. I put my arm in front of me and focused all my energy on creating a barrier. The oncoming energy raced around it, as the barrier blocked it, but I could feel the heat of friction as the two forces met, the force trying to push me backwards. Suddenly it stopped though, and I looked back at Evan.

"Why are you attacking me?" I yelled at him.

"Why not?" he replied, shrugging, and fired two more bursts of energy at me. They struck my barrier again, and deflected to either side.

"I'm not your enemy," I told him.

"Oh but you are," he said. He slowly started to circle around me keep his distance between me and him. "It came to me while I was sleeping, this vast amount of power, and I realized, this is amazing. I'm stronger, and faster, and I realized maybe now more people will come to respect me."

"People already respect you," I told him.

"Not like this, with these powers I could do so much more," he said, his hands slowly glowing white with energy. "I could control places, and people. No one would be able to stop me. And then I realized one thing. You would try to stop me. You're a Champion of the people aren't you? Always have to save the day, and protect the innocent?"

"Do you realize what you're saying?" I asked him. "You sound nuts, obviously those powers have made you unstable."

"I'm quite sane, I assure," he replied. "Everything is clear, and right now the only thing standing between me and my goals is you. So let's get rid of that extra component, so I can get down to business."

Track Insert - Kobee - Endless Thoughts

It was no use, he seemed to beyond any form of reason I could muster. Obviously being struck by that bolt of lightning had caused some sort of mutation, and now he seemed to have the power of that energy. He may be able to control the energy, but I still had an advantage over him, hopefully. "Alright Evan, you want to kill me, fine, but I'm not going to make it easy for you, Emergency Power." I brought my left arm up in front of me, and upon the voice command I had issued, the red crystal on the lens began to glow. Evan stood his ground, and it seemed like a grin almost began to slowly form across his face. It un-nerved me, but I knew I what I had to do.  
"Ranger Form, Energize!" I brought my arm back, and slammed my right hand on it. The DNA accepted, a red glow formed over my body, and when it faded seconds later, my ranger armor covered my entire body.

"I have to say that was just a tad bit tacky," he told me. "A bit dramatic too. I hate to tell you though, but your not the only one who can pull a parlor trick there too. With the ability toss lightning around like whit, I also possess the wonderous ability of transmutation of matter. Slowly like small flakes of energy were being pulled out of the air, matter began to surround and form on his body, and then there was a bright flash. Standing there he was covered in a suit of armor almost like mine. His helmet was a bit more gothic with only a slit for the visor, and his gloves and boots were a bit more old fashion almost like old knights boots, and gloves. Over his main chest plate though was an exaggerated vest, and while the undersuit was black, most of the accented pieces were white, with hints of silver. "I figure if you can't beat them, then do it better than them. You like the color, isn't white a classic color of the side of light?"

I was a bit in shock at the moment, but tried to regain my composure. I pulled out my sidearm, and not waiting for him to strike, I fired several bolts back at him. His suit seemed to absorbed them, but still sparked as it collieded with them. He in turned picked up his weapon, and fired back at me. The shots were solid though, unlike my energy shots. I forced myself into the air my mind, and flipped forward, pulling my Psy Blade out as I landed. Forcing mental energy into it for really the first time, the blade materilized into being, looking somewhat translucent. I slashed forward at him, but he stepped back, and with a flash brought to bare his own weapon, a twin bladed sword. He spun it around at me, and it clashed with my own weapon, forcing a surge of energy around us.

I pulled back, and so did he, and again there was a short amount of distance between us. I charged forward and slashed, he blocked, and slashed at me. I ducked under it, and came up with parry, then moved in and slashed him across his chest. Sparks flew from his armor and he was forced backwards. He slashed at me again, and I parried.

"What a matter, not witty reporitare, no cliches of virtue?" he asked.

"Give me a little while," I replied. "I'm still new at this." He pushed off his sword, and slashed him across his arm. He answered back with a slash across my chest, and then using the other end of his weapon, tripped me sending me to the ground.

"Apparently a little too green still," he said, his weapon suddenly finding its way to my neck. "Looks like it wasn't a long term prospect. Your life I mean."

"What the hell is going on?" asked Sean, suddenly making his presence made on the com-link. "Who the hell is that?" Evan had made a mistake though, and that was he forgot about my telekinetics. I reached for his leg with my mind, and pulled back sending him to the ground. He shot back up, and so did I and again our blades locked together.

"Maybe I should just go ahead and tell the authorities about you?" he said.

"I don't know if you've realized this, but your in the same boat now pal," I said.

His hand glowed and I knew he was getting ready to release a bolt so I backed up to get some distance. He casted his hand forward, and arches of energy raced towards me, striking me head on and throwing me backwards.

"There's still something your forgetting," he told me. "You have a weak link."

"My virtue?" I quipped, pulling out my Enea from my fallen position, and pulling the trigger like my life depended on it. Several shots hit him head on, and he forced himself back. Slowly I pulled myself to my feet, and he did the same. We stood standing there facing each other, our armor marked with the signs of battle, heavy breathing coming from both of us.

"Much worse than that," he said, fatigue starting to enter into his voice. "You're in love."

It dawned on me right then and there what he was talking about. He was threatening the life of the person I cared about the most. I clenched my fists in anger, which he saw, mentally gaining the upper hand.

"That's right my friend," he said. "Everyone knows about your feelings towards her, you've made them blantly obivous to everyone around you. We all know. You're precious Madeliene, its almost funny how she never seems to respond to your advances. I bet she still wouldn't go for you if she found out about your little secret."

"Let it go man," said Sean over the com-link, "he's just trying to get to you. Focus."

"Won't it be a shame when your responsible for her death?" he said.

Snap. Like our ammunition which had crossed the clearing at the speed of sound, I had closed the difference, kicks, and punches leaving my body, an attack he was totally unprepared for. Impact after impact struck his armor, and forced him backwards, until he was against a wall, until finally, looking quite out of it, I pulled my Enea back out and had it aimed at his helmet, the power setting telekinetically set to the highest possible output. I took a step back, so my arm could be straight and firm.

"How uncharacteristic of a hero," he let out, pain in his voice. "I didn't know you took lives."

"Keith, stop," yelled Sean over the intercom. "Don't do this." The Enea's power cells whined as the charge reached its full power, and I became aware of my deep breaths, barely audible over the sound of my beating heart in my ears.

"He isn't worth it," said Sean. "You've already beaten him."

"What's a matter?" asked Evan. "Lost your nerve already." I stared straight ahead of him, and luckily he couldn't read my emotions through my visor. My fingers stretched out and closed around the handle of the blaster.

"I swear to god Evan, if you touch anyone, Anna, Zach, Xander, and especially Mady, anyone at all," I said, "then you will have wished I pulled this trigger today." Across the com-link I heard a sigh of relief from Sean. I backed up, away from him, but kept the weapon levelled. "Get out of here, now." His armor flashed white, and he stood there in his human form, a look of pure hatred across his face. He composed himself though, and smiled, before he quickly tore off towards the main building. I watched him go, and lowered the weapon.

"Good job," I heard Sean say. "You did the right thing."

"DAMNIT!" I yelled, slamming my fist into a tree next to me. Several other curses left my mouth that need not be repeated here, and the trunk of the tree recieved several other blows. Slowly I calmed down, replacing my Enea to its magnetic holster.

"Why don't you come by and explain to me what happened," he said. Slowly I focused my energies, and opened a portal infront of me. I took one last look back towards the main building, before I stepped through.


	12. Path of a Ranger

"Then all of a sudden, I felt this surge, and I lept over the side of the railing towards the earth below," I told Sean, explaing how everything had come to a head with Evan. "That's pretty much where you came in." I saw on his couch, still in my armor, my helmet in my hands. He watched me patiently, trying to decide what to say, or what the best course of action may be. "I know I lost it there, but..."

"You were tired," he said, "you had that rescue in Baltimore, then the thing with Evan in the bathroom, and then another school day, not to mention no sleep before, and you went off. You had lost all your patience with someone who was very likely capable of following through with the threats he was inciting." He stood up against the table he was leaning against and started pacing forward back towards his desk with his monitor and keyboard. "But here's the thing, there's a good chance there's going to be a lot more days like this, a lot more, especially not that you seem to have acquired a mortal enmey. You may have lost it momentarily, but you got it back which is good, because if you hadn't we would be having a very different conversation right now." He paused and turned back to face me. "You've choosen a symbol to fight behind, which is great because on one hand it serves as rallying cry to fight through, but at the same time it comes with guidelines, and morales, and you can't just toss those to the win because you feel like it. You picked this symbol, you choose to be a Ranger."

"Why can't I?" I asked. "He was threatening everyone and everything I have left. He was threatening lives, and I could of stopped him with a single pull of the trigger. Why can't I break a belief to save other people?"

"Because sooner or later, the whole world is going to know about you," he told me. "And there are going to be questions, lots of questions. Let's face it, people know about you already, but no one is saying anything because they don't think anyone would believe them. When those questions come, what are you going to tell the questionares? Isn't it against the Mobium Code to take another Mobium life? Mobium don't kill Mobiums. Your part Mobium, but your also part human? Shouldn't it apply to your code?"

"Self defense is always an exception," I said cyncially. "And this is definitely a case of self defense."

He sighed, and shook his head, "Listen you know I can't TELL you what to do, because when the time comes its going to be up to you to decide what to do. All I know is, today you did the right thing, and if you keep operating like that, you'll be good."

My gaze slipped to the floor and I fell silent for a few minutes trying to sum up everything. I felt myself cool down from before, but I knew what had gone through my head, and I wondered if it went through the head of anyone else like me before. "I wanted to kill him Sean."

"I know," he told me. "I know."

"Listen," he said. "Why don't you just take the rest of the night off. Focus on some school work. Winter break is tomorrow, and he's probably not going to make a move why you guys are away."

"Assuming my threat actually worked," I replied.

"We're going to have to for now," said Sean.

"Release," I said, standing up, and dismissing my armor. I stood there in my clothes I had worn all day, my eyes darting around as my thoughts filled the room. "Alright, I'm out." I waved my hand and a portal opened in front of me.

"Sleep well," said Sean.

"As long as Evan is around, probably not," I said turning back towards him. I faced the portal again, closed my eyes and stepped through.


	13. Choices

I spent most of winter break doing whatever teenager does. I watched television, mainly catching up on my predecessors, I believe it was Time Force at that point; and brooding in my own dilemmas. The whole aspect of what I did had changed. Before I could go out and help people whenever the need arose, and now, I was going to spend most of my time in defense of the people at school. What was Evan capable of, and what would he do? What was his ultimate goal? He was human, and had the human element to him, not just some space monster who was only evil. I had wanted to kill him then, but now, much like Sean said, I knew I couldn't. I didn't think I could take another human life, but at the same time, how could I ensure the safety of others if I left him alive, he would always be a threat, even potentially without his powers.

Evan wasn't the only person on my mind. I thought about Mady a lot too. He had threatened not just her, but everyone else too, and what did that mean to me. We're these people safe with me in their lives? What about Anna, Xander and Zach? Evan could hurt them all, and what if I couldn't get there fast enough to save them. Should I tell them about Evan so they know what kind of danger he was to everyone, but then how do I explain myself to them? Right now, Evan and I sort of kept ourselves in check. We were equals in power, and he knew that just as much as me. But what benefit would it serve them to know about me, and Evan, wouldn't it just make their lives harder? Mady just wanted a normal life that many teenage girls have, wouldn't I be destroying that by bringing her into my world?

I had taken this world on by choice, I had made the decision to invoke my natural abilities, my birth heritage, and take on the world, and try to make it better, because I had the ability to affect change. Now that decision was placing people in danger. My friends hadn't made the same choice I had, then again neither had Evan, or had he. He decided to try and use his information to hurt people, and then he decided to use his power to harm, and threaten others, so in a sense he had made a choice. Like it or not though, I couldn't just offer my friends the choice, they were already involved, and it was only right for them to know what was going on. Originally this was to be the plan, to tell them the second I got back to school. Sit them all down, and let them know what was happening, show them was going on behind their backs. Face the questions, deal with the consequences. I've never had a single idea, go according to plan.

It was Sean who put the idea into my head, he played devils advocate. Wouldn't they just go to the authorities when they found out. Why would they let me take care of it? If the authorities knew about me and Evan we'd probably both wind up in labs somewhere, and in the process of getting there, we'd both probably end up hurting people to try and remain free, possibly even worse. Was I not a much more valuable asset alive, and uncaged. The authorities probably wouldn't be able to stop either of us, and Evan would probably just end up killing a good deal of people. I was the only who could eventually bring him down. My friends couldn't know how much danger they were in, because if they did, then most likely I would be in more danger.

"This isn't right," I told Sean. "Lying to them when they're danger."

"You're the only one who can stop him from hurting them in the first place," he replied.

"They're my friends," I told him. "Shouldn't I be able to trust them."

"Can you say without a shadow of a doubt they won't go to the authorities?" he asked me.

"No," I said relucatantly, and defeated.

"I don't like it anymore than you do, and every bone in my body says its wrong, but its what you HAVE to do," he said. "Keep them safe, by not telling them."

It wasn't right, but he was right, I HAD to do it this way. With one of them I had to go a step further. Evan wasn't the only conflict I was having during break. My other conflict rested with my feelings for Mady. I didn't have the Ranger powers when I returned to the school I did, and frankly, I didn't want to go back in the first place. That environment wasn't for me, and I knew by then, and with the death of my mother, I believed it was time for me to move on, regardless of my friends. But I also felt very deeply for someone and at the time, those feelings were all I really had. I acted on them, and I returned to a place I didn't necessarily like because of her. I was fortunate enough to further our friendship, almost making it a point of mine. I started the school year off with it, and before you knew it we were having our previously mentioned weekly sessions in the theatre. I learned a lot about her, and she learned a lot about me. My feelings grew deeper than, and now they were at a breaking point, and I knew not only with the threats Evan made, but how I felt too, that it might be better, if she was no longer in my life. I cared too much about her, and now I didn't want to see her hurt. I didn't know if she felt the same about me, and I don't know if I cared whether or not she did at that point, because I knew what I had to do.

The last day of break came, and I geared up physically, emotionally, and mentally to return to a new kind of world that I had never dealt with before. I was about to end something I really needed, and begin something that had the potential to kill me. I was returning to face a new kind of destiny.


	14. Distractions

Things began to close in around me slowly, as everything began to build up. Evan didn't stop with just that one attack, but it became almost a daily thing. I changed my training spot of course, portaling off grounds so he wouldn't find me, but there were always other instances where he would. Xander's father's condition only declined, and the stress it put on him was equally felt by his friends, unable to do anything but comfort him. the worst part for me though was avoiding Mady. It was something that I needed to do, though my heart felt the complete opposite. I tried very hard to figure out the explanation I was going to give her when she finally confronted me, which was only a matter of time, but for the last few days she had given me space. Her loyal friend Anna though, did not.

I was slowly moving down the hall, when she came upon me.

"Hey Keith," she said, suddenly at my side.

"Hey Anna," I said lightly.

"Soooo why aren't you talking to Mady?" she asked me. I remained silent initially, keeping my focus ahead, and trying hard to think up an excuse. "Keith?"

"Its a long story Anna," I replied. She stopped, and I turned to face her as we reached the mid-way part of it, where it opened to an entrance, and a large room opposite the entrance.

"She's upset about it," she told me. "She's your friend."

"I have my reasons Anna," I told her, trying to paint myself to be a jerk, hoping it would settle her curiosity, or at least drive her away for the moment. "Let me worry about it." I turned to leave.

"She's my friend too Keith," she said. "I don't want to see her hurt."

"Me neither," I said under my breath, and continued walking forward. The conversation had upset me though, and part of me wanted to decimate the part of the hallway I was in, but I knew that would probably not be a good idea, so I managed to hold myself back. It was bad enough not being able to talk to her, but knowing that I had caused even the slightest amount of pain was something I didn't need at that moment.

"Do you think that plan is actually going to work?" asked Evan, who was leaning with his back to a part of the hallway that dipped into the rest of the building, a spot I couldn't see him in until I walked past it. I knew the voice instantly, and turned, somewhat pleased that he was here, hopefully I could outlet my anger after all. "Do you think if you end your friendship, push her way, that she'll be out of danger? Are you really that stupid?"

"The less distractions I have, the easier it will be to maintain my focus on stopping you," I told him, trying to play it cool.

"How dumb do you think I am?" he asked, standing up straight and circling around me. "Your hoping to get her out of the line of fire. Its not going to work, because regardless of where she is, you still feel the same about her, and I know that just as much as you do." I stood there with my fists clench, ready to just let loose with all my mental reserves upon him. He looked down, and my eyes began to take on a soft redish hue. "There we go, are you ready to cut loose right here, in front of everyone. Let's just break it open right here and now, let everyone know. No more tiptoeing around. What do you say?"

I wanted to, just let loose, not caring who saw us, or what happened next, but I also knew if I did, no matter who came out on top, he still won, because he had pushed me to the point where I let go. Venting air through my nose, I took deep breaths, and slowly my eyes returned to their normal color. "I'm not going to play by your rules."

"Always the challenge," replied Evan, turning his back on me, and walking off in the direction I left Anna. "One day," he called back.

My silence was shortly thereafter broken. I decided that in the interest of fairness, I needed to explain to her how I felt, and using discretion, what was going on. I sent her an email, letting her know that I wanted to talk to her, but I did it own my grounds. At our usual time, in our usual place. My mind was clouded in a mix of emotions, because I didn't know what I could, and could not say, or what actions I should take. I had no set path, except for the fact that I just wanted to tell her everything, about everything, but knew I could only discuss my feelings for her. Everything else had to be kept in reserve.

I got to the theatre first, but I didn't sit out in the audience like I always did. Instead I sat on the stage. A partial set had been erected for something, I can't remember what, but there where three white stage pieces on the apron. I sat with my back facing one, staring out over the audience. I knew the only way I could do this, was not by facing her. I sat and waited for her to come, thinking carefully the words I wanted to choose to say to her. Knowing that the carefully rehearsed speeches I tried to prepare would never be used in the process. Nervous, as a description, was an understatement, and shaky would of been more helpful then the way I felt. It was almost as bad as the first time I went into battle with Evan, not knowing what I was really up against. The fear, the fear of losing, losing her.

She came in though, from the backstage area, slowly walking on the stage, and sitting on the block to my right, behind me. I could sense nervousness in her as well, so it made me a feel a little more relaxed knowing I wasn't the only one who was upset.

"I can't imagine how you feel," I told her. "And I know the way I've been acting towards you hasn't been the most respectful either. I'm sorry, I just, I need to tell you what's going on, and I need you to let me finish before you say anything, because I don't know if I can finish if you stop me."

Her silence was her agreement, and slowly I folded my knees closer to my chest, starting my explanation, keeping several things out of the story.

"We got to know each other last year, just out of luck I guess," I began. "I remember how surprised I was when you waited for me to catch up to you that one day, that was the first time any one had ever actually waited for me. The more I got to know you the more I decided I liked you. You did the right things, you said the right things, and we sort of just clicked I guess, at least in my mind. I fell for you then, but you with your boyfriend then, and I couldn't do anything about that. That was what was. Then I lost my mother, and I was just wrapped up in myself, and you were the only person that I really saw, or felt anything for. I was posed the choice as to whether or not to come back here this school year, and we grew closer. We started sitting out in there in that audience, and we learned about each other. And you found out things about me, about how I work, that no one ever has before. You know who I really am, the real me, not the act I put on for everyone else. This place has hurt me so much though, and hurts being here even now. Why did I come back?" I turned my head towards her, my head looking over my shoulder at her. "Why did I have to love you?"

I turned to face the audience chamber again, part of my just absolutely shaking from the fear of revealing my most vulnerable side to this person, scared at what she might do with it. "Over break, I realized that I really care about you more than anything else, and that I really want to be with you. But I can't be, and I know that. Your with someone right now, but it doesn't change the way I feel about you, and those feelings cause me a great deal of pain. Being around you is almost unbearable, nto because I can't stand you, but because I love you too much."

There was a crash to my right, and my head darted over thinking, maybe, Evan had some how managed to crash my emotional episode, but she had merely dropped the necklace she had been playing with, and it landed on the stage. She looked upset, and she sniffed the air, choking back tears.

"I can't be around you anymore Mady, because deal with my feelings appropriately, and until I can, it has to be this way," I told her.

Silence followed for a few moments, both of us letting everything I said seep into each other. I was drained, I literally had nothing else to say to her that would help. I certainly wasn't about to tell her the whole Ranger story, because she'd probably think I was making it up at that point.

"I don't deserve you," she told me. That was all she said, and some ways I was stunned, and confused, and taken completely off guard. The whole time it had all been about me not deserving her because I hadn't done enough in my life. Maybe we both understood each other better than I thought. Tears ran down her eyes, and I wanted so bad to hold her, and protect her from those tears. I moved over towards her, and crouched down in front of her.

I don't remember what I said to her after that. We stood up together, and I knew she realized we couldn't talk again, no matter how much we wanted too. I hugged her, never wanting to let her go, but finally I did, and let her go out the door first. I turned to face the audience chamber again, upset, but holding. What would come next I wondered, how many more people was I going to have to push away?


	15. Frozen Ground

"I'm different than everyone else," I said, staring out the window of the office I was in, out into the soothing image of the woods in the winter. A soft powder was on the ground covering the fallen brush of autumn, and absorbing the sound. The sky was gray and threatening to dump another fury of snow upon us. "My world is different."

"Do you know why your different?" he asked. He would be Al, my counselor. He was the only other person in the world who knew about who I truly was. The school had set him upon me after the death of my mother, and I figure it would be good for me to talk to someone impartial to the whole situation. He knew of Evan, but didn't know exactly who he was, since I had never named in any of our sessions.

"Because I've chose to be," I replied, my arms folded across my chest. "Because I'm alone, and I always will be."

"You don't have to be alone Keith," he replied. "If you opened yourself to more people, showed them just small parts of your world, you'd find you have a lot of close people to you who would be willing to help you."

"This isn't their world, and I won't force them into it," I replied. "Besides they'd never understand it."

"I think your friends would be very understanding," he stated.

"I sometimes think the word friend is a stretch," I said. "I've never been like them, before I thought I was just really strange, but now we can chalk that up to my 'birthright.' I think differently than everyone else, and its not just because part of my physiology evolved differently. Its because of the values I choose. Everyone wants to run around and have fun, they're into the latest music, and clothes, and sports, and sex. I know its not true for everyone, but some people seem so intent on satisfying their own desires."

"Isn't that what you're doing?" Al asked me. "Don't you have an inner desire to do what's right, and protect other people? Are you doing that?"

"Mine helps other people, though, there's only helps themselves," I replied.

"Isn't it their right to choose that path though?" he asked. "Nothing is stopping you from enjoying all that as well, no one says you have to go out and screw a girl, smoke, or drink."

"I hate drinking," I replied non-chantilly.

"That's not the point," he said. "It's their life."

"It is indeed, but that's what will always separate me from them Al," I said turning to face him. "I help others because its the right thing to do, and that comes first, before even providing for my own survival."

"That's very noble of you, but haven't you ever wondered what your going to do with the rest of your life?" he asked me. I looked silently forward, my eyes focusing on the wall above where he was sitting. I knew the answer to the question, but I wasn't sure I wanted to give it to him. All the signs, the dream I had a year ago, just my path in life in general pointed in one direction. "Keith?"

"No point in wondering," I told him. "I'll probably be dead very soon."

I was running as fast as I could, the sound of my heart beating filling my ears. Just a little bit longer I thought, and I'd be there, but I knew I had to save some strength for when I got there. It was later in the day from when I had talked to Al, and now things had changed from the routine of a normal school day to almost cataclysmic. In an instance our secret could be out, and the strange thing was neither of us were the ones who were going to reveal it. My foot falls were loud on the stone-set path, stealth being tossed out the window in favor of speed. Portalling was out of the question, and I tried as discreetly as possible to keep the thermal shield around my body to keep out the cold. I blew past the indoor track team making its rounds for the winter season, and plunged head first into the snowy forest. How could we have been so stupid. She shouldn't of even been there in the first place.

I would hear before I saw it, but I'd feel it before I heard it, as I made a break for the far side of the lake, it hit me full senses all at once. I could see the beam of energy arc up in front of me, followed by a loud crack. A white flash could be seen moving through the trees, a flash that could only be Evan, but he wasn't alone. He was chasing someone. Hoping no one was around, and that the track team wasn't heading this way, I risked exposure, bringing my arm up towards my head. My lens had already decloaked, the jewel in the center glowing a bright red. 

"Energize!" I cried, being brief, and somewhat out of breath. I slammed my two fingers onto the jewel, and felt a surge of energy as my armor covered my body. No longer using strength to maintain the thermal field I moved just a tad bit faster. Another arc of energy, this time much closer missed its apparent target. He wasn't good at aiming well when he was running, not very athletic in nature, and not taking the time to train properly, regardless of what that bolt might of done to his body. Finally I saw his prey. Her name was Reid, and she was a girl not from our school who was very close to Evan. I never thought for a moment that he might turn on her, but for some reason he was in hot pursuit of her. When she saw me she practically let out another shriek, thinking that I was after her as well, especially when I pulled out my Enea, and fired two shots towards her. She tried to cover her head, and dove towards the frozen ground. My shots were more accurate though, and struck my intended target head on, impacting on Evan's chest armor, stopping him dead, and throwing him back a few feet onto his butt. I closed the gap, and put myself in between her and Evan. She was sort of tom-boyish, being slightly shorter than Evan, but she was interested in the same things he was. Her hair was dark, but short, and her eyes were gentle and soft.

I stood firm on my ground, my blaster aimed right at Evan, a high pitched whine filled the air as it charged up another round. My chest rose and fell with each hard breath I was taking from my move down here. It left me partially drained, but Evan's pursuit had no doubt left him the same. "What the hell are you doing?" I practically screamed the words at him. I fired two shots at the ground next to him, and again the air filled with the sound of the high pitched whine of the next rounds charging. He looked at me, pushing off the ground with his hands. I could tell by his body position that the look behind his helmet must be that of confidence.

"Why what ever do you mean?" he asked.

"She knows who you are," I stated to him. "So you're trying to kill her I surmise?"

He turned to look at her, but remained silent. I couldn't believe he was going to sink that low, but apparently he had fallen much further than I had assumed.

"He was trying to do something to me," she replied, just as out of breath as the two of us. "Trying to do something to my mind."

I had no idea what she was trying to say. Things weren't adding up, and why would he be trying to do something to her mind. What could he do to someone else's mind in the first place. My blaster was level, but my thoughts weren't focused on him entirely. He could no doubt sense this, and used the opportunity to attack.

Track Insert - Korn "Word Up"

He reached for his blaster, and fired. I had kept an eye, and saw him go for his gun, so I dove to the side, as two shots whizzed past the spot I had been standing. I fired two shots on the way down, but he was no longer there. Having no training, I hit the ground instead of rolling. I forced myself back up to my feet, but he wasn't going after me, he was still after her. I went for the cut off, and as he dove to tackle her, I collided with him in mid air, both of us spinning into a tree, my side fortunate enough to collide with the trunk.

"Run!" I managed to squeak out, but dazed, he was able to get up before me, and take off after her. I pulled myself up, and ran after him, Enea in hand. We took of down the trail, a hot pursuit in a winter landscape. Damsel, Evil Ranger, Red Ranger, it almost looked like a stage stunt show or something. Our only saving grace was the time of year. If it was the spring, track would no doubt be out here running or something.

Evan felt the pursuit though, and turned around while running, firing shots. His aim was messy though and he missed. The noise concerned me the most, hopefully no one would hear the blaster shots and become curious. Our path took us over a part of the trail with a fallen tree, and I used it as an opportunity to leap and gain some air with my powers to fire off two quick bolts, both missing Evan only by a fractions of an inch. I barely had enough time to curse under my breath as I hit the ground, and continued pumping my legs, which now hurt like no other. I was going to be super sore tonight. Two more shots came back this way, one causing me to duck down to the side as it went over my shoulder. Must of been a lucky shot. I stood up, and fired two shots, again missing him.

The law of large number, and the simple fact of running in the woods, caught up with all of us though, as Reid who had been quite nimble, and agile finally caught the bad end of a root, or a rock or something, and fell face first towards the ground. Evan made it to her first, and dove to tackle her again, but I stopped, and fired a shot, striking him in the back, which caused him to fall short, and hit the ground. I was on top of him in a heart beat, pulling him up, and striking him across his perverted helmet with my gloved first. He reached back and went for my lower torso armor, aiming for the gutt. The impact of the hit still registered through the armor, and I was taken a little a back. But I put both my hands together, and using a move straight out of Star Trek, pushed upwards and hit him in the chin. I then kicked him in the chest, causing him to start backwards. His twin bladed weapon materialized in his hand, and I brought out my Psy Blade.

"Don't you ever get sick of these constant one on one battles?" he mused.

"As long as I can stop you, I don't," I told him.

"Please," he spat in disgust, "its only ever been a draw."

"Let's change things then," I said, lurching further, and swinging for his chest. He side stepped the attack, then swung. My blade connected with his lower one, and he blocked it forcing my weapon upwards. I let go of the mesh, and stepped backwards, but he again was closer to Reid, and turn towards her swing.

"NO!" I said, and dove towards Reid. I took the brunt of the force of the impact across my left shoulder as the blade fell upon it, slicing my armor open. I hit the ground hard, and lost my morph, causing my armor to shimmer than disappear. I was helpless, and defenseless, easily finish, the drain of the encounter seemed to have been too much for me. I thought back to what I had told Al just that afternoon, never realizing how soon it would be that my forecast would come true. Evan though, seemed uninterested in my defeat. Instead, he grabbed Reid by the arm, and lifted her up. He looked down at me, almost in frustration, and suddenly both of them glowed white, and disappeared. My head turn to the side, I watched the energy fade from the area, the pain my arm throbbing, but quickly becoming numb due to the cold. The pain barely registered, but I knew it was pretty bad, because the scary part was I couldn't move it. I dropped my head back to the frozen ground, ready to pass out.

I barely heard him. It was like a far away voice beckoning to me, I could barely make it out, I just knew I had to do something, and so I focused and slowly, using all the last of my strength, opened a portal to somewhere for the briefest moments, maybe ten seconds. Then I heard footfalls next to me, and someone was picking me up, and carrying me.


	16. Silent Dark

The next thing I remember was opening my eyes, and staring at the ceiling. I shot straight up out of the bed I was lying in, cursing as I came up. "Dammnit!" I had immediately wished that I hadn't done that as I could feel an onset of sharp pain throughout my entire body.

"Easy there kid," said Sean, coming over to my side. My torso was bare, with a bandage wrapped around my left arm. "You took a pretty hard hit." I looked around at my surroundings. We appeared to be in one of the bedrooms of the health center, not the last place I recall being, and wondered immediately as to perhaps why. "You opened a portal with what ever you had left, and I came through, and got you. I brought you here, and Al "snuck" you in. The nurses know your here, but he used his sway to make sure they don't come in." I saw a quick motion over in the corner of the room, and someone stood up.

"Thank you," I said, as Al came over.

"I really wish you would tell the proper authorities now," he said, lecture mode kicking in. "You could of been a lot worse off. Its time to stop this foolish game your playing."

"Yeah, well," I started, "when the bullets start bouncing off of Evan's armor, and his bolts of energy destroy police equipment and personnel, it won't seem to so foolish. I propped myself up against the backboard with a pillow. I could barely move my arm, but it was moving which meant I didn't blow the hell out of it. "Besides everything has changed."

"What do you mean?" asked Sean.

"He's took someone," I said. "Vanished in a flash of energy. Frankly I didn't know he could of done that. Either he could all along or he's discovering his abilities as he goes, the same as I."

"Did he take another student?" asked Al, concern growing in his voice. I understood his position. His scientific mind was processing everything around him, and his background in psychology was putting his own spin on things, the same my background in protecting people was putting my own spin on things. Maybe he was right, and we should just bring in the authorities, maybe I was right. I wasn't sure then, still not sure now.

"No," I replied. "A personal friend of his, though what she was doing on school grounds at this time, I have no idea."

"Probably lured by false pretenses," suggested Sean. "Do you know where he took her?"

"No," I said, "I blacked out pretty soon after that. I was hoping maybe you had gotten a lock on their movements or something."

"I don't even know if we can do that," Sean admitted. "Who was she?"

"I guess sort of like a girlfriend," I said. "Her name is Reid, and they've been hanging out together. They met at fencing class last year."

"We should alert her parents," suggested Al.

"That's great, except I have no idea who they are, or her last name," I said. "Besides what would we tell them?"

The two older men looked at each other, and then back to me. My breathing was shallow as every so often small jabs would hit me. It was uncomfortable to say the least. "I don't like the idea of lying. But the truth is far more dangerous."

"We understand that your life would be put at risk, but they do have a right to know," chimed in Al.

"Let me try to get her back first," I told him.

"What if you can't?" asked Sean.

"If I can't it means I'm dead, and then Reid won't be the only person you'll have concern for," I said, turning to the side and putting my feet on the ground.

"Easy there chief," said Sean. "You should at least stay here the night. There's been no sign of Evan so far, he's yet to check in for study-hall."

"He will," I said, considering Sean's advice very sternly.

"Any idea why he took Reid?" asked Al.

"Not really," I said, still sitting there, like I was ready to get out of bed. "I think she said something about him trying to do something to her mind. But Evan only has access to energy based weapons, not telepathic abilities."

"As far as we know," said Sean.

"Well if he did why would he wait til now?" I asked, "wouldn't he have tried to use them on me now."

"Maybe he couldn't," suggested Sean.

"Maybe he's trying something else," said Al. "Like Pavlov's Dog."

Sean and I both turned towards Al. "What?"

"Classical conditioning, a response to a certain stimuli," he stated.

"You mean like shock therapy?" asked Sean.

"I guess it would make sense considering his abilities with energy," said Al.

"Are you saying he's torturing her?" I asked, my anger starting to rise.

"Possibly," he returned. "But nothing is for sure."

Suddenly I felt very tired, as the draining experience finally caught up with me, and I fell back onto the bed. "I'm so sick of this." The room was silent for a moment, and slowly I rubbed the skin on my face, the pain from moving my arm not hurting me as much as before. "Let's worry about it tomorrow. We can't do anything until Evan show's back up."

"We'll let you get some sleep," said Al, heading towards the door. He motioned for Sean to follow, but Sean didn't.

"Actually I kinda need to get home," said Sean. "Work in the morning."

I rose my good arm up without opening my eyes, and a portal opened up.

"Talk to you tomorrow kid," said Sean, stepping through it.

"Good night Keith," came Al's words from the door.

"Like I'm really going to sleep tonight," I said. He took one last look at me, then left the room closing the door behind him. I dropped my hands onto my chest, lying across the center axis of my bed, staring at the ceiling. I took a deep breath and let it out. "What am I going to do now?"

The next day was less than stellar, my arm was sore for most of it. I made it back to my room without any of the nursing staff noticing and woke up in my own bed the next morning. I took an extra longer time in the shower than usual that moment, the hot water felt good on my sore arm, it kind of tingled at this point. I felt drained that day, a lot more than usual, and for some reason it was hard to just keep on going.

Evan had shown up as I knew he would, coming in late for study hall, and then the next morning he was bright and cheery in home room. Part of me wanted to drop several of the desks on his head at that point, just like a piano like in the cartoons. He was my only link to finding Reid though, so I had to keep an eye on him. He smiled at smugly, knowing exactly that no doubt, and I knew then and there, that this wasn't going to be easy.

I didn't have any classes with him, so after homeroom he disappeared for the rest of the day, but after classes let out, I hoped to keep tabs on him, but he had disappeared. Any trace of Reid's whereabouts had gone with him as well for the moment.

"You don't look so great man," said Xander as I came into the scene shop after I finished my search.

"No," I lied. "I'm just tired. How are you man?" I walked over to his two flat which he had turned into a skyline replica of a church, complete with stained glass, or at least a reasonable, cost efficient replica.

"I'm alright," he said.

"How's your dad?" I asked him.

"He's not doing so well," he replied.

"I'm sorry to hear that," I said.

"Yeah," said Xander. "I've been talking to Al some about it. I might go home if he doesn't get better."

"Wow," I said. "That's probably where you belong though."

"Yeah," said Xander. He picked up a material he was using and shuffled it around on the work table.

"It looks good," I told him.

"Thanks," he said. "It was a pain my butt." We both chuckled at that, and stared at it for a second.

"I'm here if you need to talk," I said.

"I know," he replied. "I appreciate it." He paused, and looked at me for a moment. "Anything you want to talk about? You've seem preoccupied lately."

I sighed, and look back towards the exit I had come in. "Its nothing, really."

"You sure man?" he said.

"Just teen angst stuff I guess," I told him. "Battling with inner demons. I've got it under control."

"Alright," he said, not believing me, but ready to drop the subject.

I left him soon after that, and I headed to my job. Work was good thing sometimes, it gave me time to just unwind and do the job. Every so often my friends would come in to keep me company which was neat, but at the same time, every so often Mady would come in too. Mady and Anna combined were usually the worse though, because they liked to steal cookies from the center. This is what happens when your nice to people. The guy from the kitchen didn't care either, so professionalism wasn't exactly maintained. That day though, I think I really just wanted to be left alone. It didn't happen that way.

"Why aren't you talking to Mady?" asked Anna, breaking me out of my thoughts. She was leaning on the counter, looking at me. I had stayed later than usual, not wanting to train with my bad shoulder. Her hair was damp, and I knew she had just come from diving practice. "Keith?"

"What?" I asked, strain in my voice, as I felt like going to sleep right then and there.

"You heard me," she said.

"I don't want to talk about this right now," I replied.

"I'm not leaving til you talk to me about it," she said.

"You want something to eat while your waiting?" I asked.

"Keith!" she scolded. "I know you talked to her, and now both of you avoiding each other. She says its what you want, but she won't tell me why."

"I know she's your best friend," I told her, my eyes downward. "I just don't really want to do this right now." I offered her a chocolate chip cookie. She looked down at it, and took then nodded, and left me again to my thoughts.

I lay in my own bed that night, wide awake. I was listening for him, all my mental senses turned towards his room down the hall, waiting for him to stir and advance retreat to where he was going, to where Reid was. My eyes were focused on the ceiling, the light from the lamp in the courtyard next to my room shining onto the ceiling from the window outside. Just like the night before, I thought about the mistakes I had made in the battle before, and how someone had paid for it. I thought about Xander and his father's condition and the pain it was putting him through. Mostly though, I thought about Mady and the rift I had created between us. I felt guilty about it as well, thinking about her. Someone's life was hanging in the balance, and I was thinking about my own problems, I didn't feel right about them either, especially when I hadn't made a move to try and save their life yet.

I turned away from the light, lying on my good arm, and faced towards the door. There was the slit of light coming from the space below the door. Throughout the building I could sense the presence of all the students, most of them sleeping peacefully in their beds. It felt like a collective wave of calm, and for the first time since I obtained my abilities did I really stop to take the time to take the whole feeling in. It was almost like the soft laps tropical seas make against the shore in the morning calm. The ebb and flow of energy was almost rhythmic as everyone harmonized with each other as they slept, unconsciously.

Suddenly though, a wave broke to disrupt the calmness, and I knew someone had just become active. I focused in, and knew it was Evan. I heard a door shut in the hallway, and soft footsteps pad down the hall towards the far end. I got out of bed, still in the clothes I had worn all day, and headed for my door. Slowly I opened it, as quietly as possible, and peaked into the hallway. I could hear the doorway to the stairs close. I pushed my door open, and headed out into the hallway. No one was about luckily, so I made my way to the staircase. I peaked through the window slit that was there, and couldn't see anyone. Slowly, I pushed the door open, careful to stay to the wall, and peaked down the staircase. I could barely hear him moving down the stairs, but I knew he had reached the bottom. I waited for the sound of the door being opened on the ground floor before I descended down the stairs. I made it to the ground floor landing, and looked around. I opened the door, and poked my head down main hall, then pulled it back in quickly. Evan was heading to the right, and he was still in the hall. It seems like the night security was no where about. I put myself just inside the alcove the door was in, and glanced down the hall. The door to the library was open, and closing slowly, and he had disappeared from the hall.

Something about this felt different though, and the word trap sprang to mind. It shouldn't be this easy. I brought my lens up to my mouth, and softly said, "Emergency Power." Instantly the gem glowed, and I issued a mental command. In my right hand, my Enea suddenly appeared, and as I gripped the trigger, I issued another command, which was accompanied by a high pitch whine as the blaster charged up. Slowly I crept down the hall staying towards the walls until I made it to the library door. I extended my mental senses and reached into the library, probing for him. I could feel him in there, but something was off. I risked a glance into the glass doors, but could only see the darkness of night. Normally the doors were locked, but as I looked at the lock from where I stood, I could tell it had been tampered with slightly. Evan obviously had the advantage from his view point. The little bit of light that there was would outline my form in the doorway, and I'd be an easy target. I took one last look down the hallways, and then through up a mental energy barrier in front of me that would at least stop any projectiles. I stepped out to face the doors, and opened them softly, then quickly ducked into the shadows of the library. 

Everything was silent, and I waited for a sound, a movement, anything that would tell me where he was. The waiting was the worse part, because at night the shadows seemed to move around you. Anything could be him, if he played it right, and even with my powers it was hard to pin point him. I slowly moved along the walls, trying to stay in the shadows, and making practically no sound as I did. I passed two of the study alcoves, and looked towards the staircase towards the lower floor.

It was as I was passing the third alcove that I heard it, the rush of two projectiles, and rather than letting my barrier absorb them, which would throw up a hue of reddish light, I dove toward the side and hid, trying to remember where the heck they came from. I looked back at where I was standing, and noticed the light coming in from the window in the alcove. I had crossed in front of it, and that's when he had seen me. It had come from the other end of the library, and cautiously I peered into the shadows trying to root him out. I hear a ruffle to my right, and saw the movement of a shadow. I stood up, and took aim, firing two bolts of energy lighting up the room. The bolts struck, causing no damage to the wall they had struck, but the two of us had seen each other in the light. I quickly moved from where I was, to another place, and once again the darkness crept in.

"Come now Keith," he said in the darkness. It wasn't very loud, because it didn't need to be, but it was soft enough to probably not go beyond the room. "You didn't think I'd just let you follow me somewhere."

"I had a feeling it was a trap, but your right, I did think you would at first," I admitted to him from my spot. Two more shots whizzed past my head, as he had determined my spot, and in turn I reached around from my spot, and fired two bolts at him. I brought my arm back, the gun putting out another high pitch whine as it charged, not helping my hiding spot at all. "Where's Reid?" There was a soft chuckle from his end of the darkness, but both of us stopped when he heard a new sound. It was the sound of a key in the lock of the door, and the door being opened. I turned from my spot looking at the door, full well expecting to see the night security, but instead, I was horrified to see something else.

The girl's name was Alyssa, and she was a year ahead of me, and next to her was a guy who I couldn't identify. They were holding hands, and slowly she pulled him into the room. What they were doing in here at this time of night I couldn't imagine, but I knew what was about to happen, was definitely not what they had planned. In a flash Evan lept from his spot, an arch of energy flying from his hand, and striking the guy, sending him into the book shelf. He reached Alyssa, and grabbed her across her waist with one arm, his weapon pointed at her head. I reacted just as quickly, my weapon aimed at Evan, but Alyssa was in the way. She looked ready to scream, but that would bring more trouble than I could handle right now, so I created a small field of energy around her head that would prevent the scream from being audible, or anything else she was going to say. The only problem was with my energy focused there; I couldn't block shots, or get Evan away from her. One problem at a time though.

"Drop it hero," he said, his resolve greater. I looked at the horror on her face, and then down to her companion who was still out cold.

"Let her go," I said. "I'll surrender."

"Don't believe you," he said. "Drop it, and I'll let her go." I tightened my grip on the handle, but only for a moment. I put my left arm up in the air, signaling my surrender, and slowly placed the Enea down on the floor. Alyssa who looked somewhat calmer, watched me as I put down on the ground. Just as it touched the ground though, I acted.

In an instant I dropped the field around Alyssa, and re-focused my energies at Evan, flinging him backwards like someone had lassoed him and pulled him back. Alyssa bolted away from where he was standing, and grabbing my Enea again, I picked it up, and had it leveled at his head, the normal whine coming as the blaster recharged. Alyssa collapsed against a bookcase, tears rolling down her cheeks, but I couldn't help her at the moment.

"Where is she?" I asked, as he looked up to face me. "Tell me."

He smiled, a look of pure victory spread over his face, amidst the face of pain of hitting the floor. "She's dead." He his body became covered in a white light, and he was gone. I tightened my grip around the blaster as he disappeared, and then lowered it to my side. It vanished, and my the jewel on my lens dulled, as commanded the grid to go offline. I turned to Alyssa, who was now trying to help her fallen companion, and even though I felt sympathy for her plight, only anger filled me, and the urge to kill began to seep into my thoughts.


	17. Paradox

**Realvampire – Thanks for all the reviews, they keep me going. :)**

* * *

"So, what your saying is, Evan is a mutant, your mom was a princess, and you're a Power Ranger?"

We sat on the top of the library, several hours later, just as the dawn light spread across the sky, and everything took on a deep blue hue. I had returned Alyssa's fallen companion to his bed, still quite unconscious, but I knew he'd awaken, probably thinking this was all just a dream. I had brought her up her to try and explain, in a rational manner, what she had just stumbled into unknowingly. So there we were now, on top of the roof of the library with my mental field around us, keeping us protected from the elements, and she looked at me expectantly, and curiously, awaiting an answer. "Yeah, that's the short version."

"That's so weird," she said.

"Weird is how normal it all feels now," I replied.

"So besides me, only your partner, and a your consoleour know?" she asked. "What about your father?"

"No," I said. "I'm afraid he doesn't."

"How long have you been doing this?" she said thoughtfully.

I paused for a moment before answering, "Evan has been this way for only about two months. I've known about my origins since last year."

"Why haven't you told anyone else?" she asked. "Don't you think everyone has a right to know they're lives are in danger. Maybe get out of the danger zone."

"The paradox is, its only a danger if everyone finds out," I said. "Otherwise he won't risk exposing himself."

"He kinda just did," she pointed out.

"We can't let anyone else know right now," I said. "He's taken someone, and I have to get her back."

"Do you really think he's killed her?" she asked.

"No," I stated. "He was just trying to get to me. Make me do something stupid."

"How do you know?" she asked.

"Because," I said. "I do."

"Oh man, this is so much to take in," she turned and looked out towards the horizon. The light was just beginning to brighten, and small wisps of pink finally made into the sky. The edges of the clouds grew darker, as the sky became lighter. "Why haven't you told your friends? Maybe they could reason with Evan."

"This isn't their world," I explained. "They have nothing to protect themselves against him. They find out, then they're targets, and they might wind up just like Reid, wherever she is. He's beyond reason at this point, beyond compassion, beyond humanity almost. He's committed to some sort of pervese goal of power, authority, and respect, but he'd rather lay low, and bide his time."

"It is their lives," she said softly.

"What?" I asked, not quite hearing her.

"I said, it is their lives," she said a little bit louder. "This world it is their lives, this little microcosm that is a boarding school. Its all our lives, sometimes its all we are."

"I can't let them be a part of this, no matter whether they want to be a part of it or not," I said.

"What about me?" she asked. "I mean now I know, based on what you said about Evan, aren't I in some kind of trouble."

"No," I replied sullenly.

"Why not?" she asked quizzically.

"Because your not going to remember any of this," I told her, staring straight ahead.

"What?" she asked confused.

"I'm going to block your memory," I told her. "Not erase mind you, it will come back to you someday later, later in life that is. But for now, I have to block it, otherwise he'll kill you." She looked nervous and frightened, and very tired, but I wanted to be on the level with her about this. "This isn't the first time this has happened. Someone else once ran into us before, and we agreed, that if I blocked their memory, then he wouldn't harm the individual who stumbled into us."

"A gentlemen's agreement with an insane man?" she questioned.

"He's held to it so far," I said. "But I'll keep watch over you to be sure, as I continue to keep watch over the other."

"Why did you tell me all this then?" she said. "Especially if your just going to block my memory."

"Because like I said," I told her, "one day you will remember this, and I want you to remember why I had to do this."

We both stared out towards the horizon, the sun's first rays hit us, both our faces now bathed in light, the moisture on the grass reflected the light in the early morning, and the buildings took on colors, and shades. It always seemed to look different first thing in the morning.

"Thanks for talking to me," I told her. "Sometimes its really nice to be able to just another person my age."

"You seem pretty lonely," she said. "I mean, I see you around this place with a few people, but you still seem pretty lonely." I turned away from her, and looked down. "If this thing with Evan ever ends you should find someone, and share this with them. When your not alone anymore, things get easier."

"Speaking of which," I said. "Just what were you doing here that late at night with a guy?"

She smiled, and said, "I think its time for you to do that memory block thing."

It took all my strength not to fling Evan out the window during homeroom. Part of me even imagine walking in, casting my hand forward and sending him into the glass, dropping the facade then and there, and settle everything finally. I knew I couldn't though, and I knew if I did, we'd never find Reid. I had placed Alyssa back into her room before I had blocked her mind, and this morning she had passed me in the main hallway with barely a recongizing grin. I was both content, and disheartened at the same time. It was nice to be able to share my secert with someone else, even if it was just for a little while.

I sat down, with Evan in front of me, staring at the back of his head. Immediatley he sensed my presence and confirmed it by turning around and looking at me. "Sleep well?" he asked.

"Peachy," I replied.

"Did you take care of that thing we discussed?" he asked, being vague so no one around us would become suspicious.

"Yeah," I replied. "It's done."

"Good," he said. "There's no need to create a 'fuss' about this whole thing."

I leaned in closer to him as he turned around to face forward, and whispered softly, "If you do not release Reid soon, then a fuss is going to be a least of your problems."

"Is that a threat?" he asked me softly.

I leaned back in my seat, and crossed my arms, as he continued to face forward. "It's a promise."

Announcements began, and we became silent, not speaking to each other for the rest of gathering, before finally leaving and heading to our classes. I felt drained, absoutley and completely, all these things had happened so fast, and now my mental reserves were being tapped to just pay attention in class, not that I was doing much of that. What was I doing? I had let Evan capture someone, hold some else hostage, and dictate how I would play this game. Right now he had all the power in our conflict, and the only moves I could make were to throw monkey wrenches into his plan, and what that plan was, I had no idea. I was stumbling blindly in a darkness that I knew nothing about, and part of it scared me. I was alone too, there would be no backup coming which meant that any mistakes I made would cost dearly, maybe even in lives. How did it come this far? I only wanted to help people. Or did I? Maybe I was only after the same thing Evan was, respect, and maybe I thought by helping people I could earn their respect, and they'd appreciate me for my abilities. Maybe Evan was right after all, and maybe I thought I was doing this so that Mady might like me better, see me as this shining knight, a pillar of virtue. I was only seventeen, I really had no idea what the hell I was doing.

That was Evan's game though, he wanted me to doubt myself, because that was the only way he was going to beat me. That and time maybe. I was alone, Alyssa had been right about that, and the solitude was starting to get to me. Things had gotten worse ever since I cut Mady out of my life. Even with Xander, and to a lesser extent Zach, did I really have anyone to talk to even if I couldn't talk about this particular subject. Hadn't I just isolated myself, when I should of pulled them closer? I wouldn't understand it for another year, but Mady was more important than I could of realized, she was more than someone I had intimate feelings about, she was the center of my balance, and without her I was prone to being unbalanced, but like I said, I didn't know that then, instead I came to the realization, the rationalization that I had made a mistake cutting her out. My life was going to be a short one, shouldn't I try to enjoy it, shouldn't I enjoy her?

Track Insert - Snow Patrol "Run"

If I hadn't mentioned it alright, I'm a complete geek when it comes to women, and in high school it was completely the same. I sent her in email, partly because I was nervous to approach her, and partly because I didn't know how to. But I told her, that I needed to see her, that is if she was willing to see me. I knew Evan was plotting something, but something told me I had some time before he struck, call it intuition, or call it stupidity, and dumb luck, but I felt that maybe I had some time to address this thing first, before I had to deal with him.

I didn't hear from her for a day, I half expected a reply to my email, and I half expected no reply at all. It was Friday, and my scene design class didn't meet that day, so I went to work early. The sun was setting, and she came into the student center. It was the first time I had seen her in all black, a black sweater, and a black skirt. I only bring this up, because of the confusing vibes I got from her some times. Sometimes I sensed light, and sometimes dark, and this felt like a dark moment, probably because she was upset, I don't really know though. She walked up to the side of the counter and stared at me.

"I got your email," she said.

"Good," I replied nodding. Work was slow, and nothing was going on. I looked down biting my lip, and looked back up at her.

"I thought I didn't want to talk to me anymore," she said softly.

"I'm an idiot," I replied. "I was going to throw something away needlessly."

"Yes, you are," she replied.

"Thanks for making this easier," I told her.

"No problem," she replied. "Its just good to talk to you again."

"Yeah," I replied.

"How's everything been?" she asked.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," I said.

"Oh yeah?" she asked.

"How bout you?"

"Things are getting better," she said.

"That's good," I replied. "I'm sorry by the way. I shouldn't of done what I did."

"Yeah," she said, frowning. I wanted to tell her I had no idea what I was doing, that I can't handle everything going on around me. I wanted to tell her how much I cared about her, how much I loved her, and how much I just wanted her to hold me right now, or just for us to be together, but I couldn't, because I believed she didn't want to hear that, and that it would of only scared her off. I needed her now, as anything, even just a friend. Would she ever understand how I felt? I didn't know that frustrated me more than anything. How can one person love so willingly, and so blindly, without the other person returning that love. How can unrequited love even be possible? I was young, and I just didn't know.

"Well," she said. "I kind of have to go to practice, but we can talk later."

"I'll catch up with you later," I replied. "I have to take care of a few things." She smiled at me, which was amazing after the lack of it for a while. It felt good to have her smile at me again.

"I missed talking to you," she said.

"I missed you," I said, then she smiled again, and turned around and left. I watched her go, and part of me felt whole again, and part of me wished she would of stayed a little bit longer.


	18. Lessons of Zordon

Sometimes, the world is totally open, and you have everything, and everyone you need to make the world right. You feel good, no matter what the problem, the situation, the difficulty. You smile, you laugh, you enjoy yourself, and you enjoy your friends. Then the pendulum of life swings the other way, and you have the opposite happen, everything crashes, including you. The only good thing about the fall, is that you never hit the bottom, you just keep going.

I was determined to end everything at that moment. I stood on the roof of the school building, with night shrouding me in her darkness. My gaze fell to the entryway before, and slowly as Evan came out of it, part of me decided right then and there that he would be stopped right now, no matter what I had to do. Zordon once told his Rangers, that the powers should never be used to aggravate a fight, that the Rangers were never to push it to the next level.

I pulled my Enea out from its holster, and it whined in the cold night as it charged its capacitors. My armor was dark in the night school, but I felt it around me, comforting. I took aim, using the guide in my Helmet's HUD to help me aim, and then squeezed the trigger. A bolt of energy raced through the night sky like a star that had lost its way. Striking Evan in the shoulder, it propelled him forward and onto the pavement. I had left the rooftop, moments after the bolt, landing on the pavement with a soft thud. Slowly he struggled to his feet, and as he did, I squeezed the trigger again, the bolt striking him in the side, and spinning him onto his back. He lie there on the pavement in a moderate amount of pain, laughing.

"Not what you were expecting?" I asked him, as he gasped for breath. My blaster was still trained on him, and at any moment anyone could walk out here and see us. "This is the end. Give up Reid's location, or I will kill you."

"Hardly," he said. His statement was rewarded with another bolt to the stomach. He let out a groan of pain, and smiled again. "Didn't think you had it in you. Kicking a guy when's he down and all."

"Last chance," I told him, my aim shifting to his head. He turned his head towards me, and smiled. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me," I replied seriously.

"Fine," he said, gasping, and laughing. "She's right behind you." Something struck me from behind, and I flew forward off my feet, and flew over Evan, rolling as I hit the ground, I made it back to my feet to turn to confront whatever had hit me. They're was Reid with her arm cast in front of her, smiling.

"Isn't she cute when she's angry?" asked Evan, slowly pushing himself off the ground. "Deadly too." I stared in shock. Al had been right, she had definitely been placed under some sort of mental conditioning, but how in the stars name did she now possess the same powers as Evan. "I was waiting til later to surprise you, but now is good a time as ever. Right man?" He turned towards his left, and I followed his gaze. Coming out from a tree was another guy, this one I didn't know, but Evan must of. He let forth an arch of energy, which struck me dead on, and spun me around, back to the ground. Three?

"How is this possible?" I said, slowly forcing myself back to my feet, slowly gasping for breath.

"Lightning strikes more than once I guess," said Evan shrugging. "Say, you can't make more of you can you?" The other two came to stand behind him, one on either side, and suddenly my problems became a whole lot worse. "Still ready to kill?"

I tightened my fist in front of me, and casted it down my side. I took a deep breathe, and assesed my situation. Now instead of just Evan, there were two more threats, but both of them were innocents who were the product of some kind of mental conditioning. Even if I stopped Evan, even if I killed him, I couldn't kill those two. At the moment though, we were out in the wide open, and the law of large numbers was slowly working against us. I focused on a safe location, and extended my mental energy. Behind me a rift in space and time opened.

"Fleeing?" asked Evan. "I thought you were ready to end this." I faced him, but didn't say anything, I just turned and headed through the portal, closing it behind me.

"Three?" asked Sean. "He made two more?"

"Yeah," I said, my arms crossed, leaning against the wall. "Both under his control."

"Three to one isn't good odds," he said. "I wish there was a way for us to counter the odds."

"There's no way to make more Rangers," I said. "We don't have the power to do it."

"There's no way to increase the grid's size?" asked Sean. "No way to make it more powerful. What about hooking it up to a nuclear reactor?"

"Different kind of power," I said. "Nuclear power would just leave it unstable. Dangerous even."

"How are we going to handle this?" he asked.

"I have no idea," I said. "But at some point, I'm going to have to fight them, all three of them."

"We're in over our heads now," said Sean, sitting down in his desk chair and leaning back. "Maybe we should think about asking for help?"

"From who?" I said. "Superman, and Batman? Let me get on the horn to the Justice League, or maybe we can call the X-Men. Cyclops and I go way back."

"I get it," he said.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I just thought I finally had this thing wrapped up." I stood up straight, and paced forward. "Man!" I slammed my fist into my palm, and then turned back and paced towards the wall. Sean watched me from his chair. "I'm so sick of this. Why didn't I just stop him when I had the chance. Now, he's put two more people in danger."

"You still made the right choice," said Sean.

"Yeah, well that choice is about to get me killed," I said, slamming my first into the wall. I turned to face him, and he watched me critically. "I'm going to have to stop them."

"And if you can't?" asked Sean.

"Then I'm going to die trying," I told him.


	19. These People

I dropped down next to him on the cold stair, looking out over the small drive circle that was the main entrance of the school. It was mid-day, and his bags were packed, resting comfortably amidst the cold by his other side. I exhaled and my breath turned to steam. "Waiting for the shuttle?"

"Yeah," said Xander. "My flight leaves at two."

"Sorry to see you go man," I told him.

"It's where I belong," he said. "My dad isn't doing any better, but I have a feeling it'll be soon."

"Yeah," I said. "But hey, freedom from this place."

"I'm gonna miss some parts of it," he said.

"You've been a good friend dude," I told him. "If there was any way for me to follow you down there I would."

"I know man," he said.

"To tell you truth," I said. "I might not be here for much longer either."

"Really?" he asked curiously. 

"I need a change," I said. "I can't stay here anymore."

"Whatever you do man," he started. His eyes told me he was searching for the right words. "Just be, safe."

"Hey Xark?" I said.

"May Dragons fly in your dreams," I told him. "Forever."

"Thanks man," he said, smiling. I slapped him on the back, and stood up.

"This is were we part for now," I told him.

"Good luck," he said.

"You too," I said. Xander was out, out of the fire, out of the warzone, and on his way to something that was in some ways worse, and many ways better. His life was no longer in danger, but he most likely would of traded his new found security in a heart beat for his father's health. Who could blame him?

I opened the door, and stepped into the seating area. She turn to face me and smiled, an amazing sight. The light from the mid-day sun spilled into the room, and slowly I made my way into the seat next to her.

"Back to normal then are we?" she said, facing forward in her seat. I stayed quiet for a few moments. She talked about what she had been doing while we weren't talking, and she told me about how her relationship had ended. She was upset by that, and it altered her mood some. I listened attentively, trying t turn over in my mind what her life was like, and part of me wondered what her life would be like soon. At some point though I drifted away as my thoughts turned back to Xander, and then turned towards Evan. At no point had I wondered what it would be like if Evan won, he triumphed, and I was defeated, and most likely dead. I never thought about whether or not the world would change at any moment, for me, and those around me. I knew the battle would come, and then we would decide it one way or the other, and either the outcome would not change the world, or I would be dead, and needn't worry about the outcome. It was very selfish way of looking at the situation, but at the same time it fortified my confidence. I believed if I just fought hard enough, I could defeat him.

"Are you alright?" Mady asked me. I turned to face her, and her eyes had a twinkle in them. Her smile had faded, but she still held within her an aura of content. How would her life be without me in it? Would she care, would she cry, did she care about me, as much as I did her? I just really wanted to reach out and kiss her, right there, and then, and forget everything else. Part of me just really wanted to believe that with her behind me, the sky was not the limit, it was only the beginning. I could do anything with her love, and Evan, and his team, would never know what had hit them. that wasn't going to happen though, either because I didn't have enough courage to take that step with her, or because part of me knew, she wouldn't allow that step. As strange as it seemed, I would rather die protecting her, then try to kiss her. Either way though, regardless of the battle, I was going to be gone, that much I had decided. I was never going to let this happen again, never going to risk their lives. Never have to worry about her love. Was that part of the reason I was leaving? Was it because I still couldn't handle my feelings for her, and that I was chickening out by leaving everything behind. My reasons were both noble and petty, a claim few heroes that came before could probably make. Was I really a hero like Evan mockingly referred to me? Had I lived up to that title, that name. Maybe I was just a little boy at play, hoping to find some sort of absolution to my mother's death by parading around as my favorite super hero, and playing war? "Keith?"

My glance fell to the ground, and then came back up to meet hers. "I need to tell you something." I turned away and took a deep breath, hoping that the words to tell her something would come. "What I did before with you, was not right, and I'm sorry."

"Well..." she said, before I cut her off.

"But," I started. "I don't know if I can handle being here anymore." She remained silent, and I could feel from her confusion. I wanted to put this carefully, I wanted to put eloquently, and I wanted her to understand what I was about to tell her. "I'm leaving at the end of the week. I'm going to just grab my stuff and go."

"Where are you going to go?" she asked softly.

"Anywhere," I said. "Just somewhere away from here." Her emotions went wild. They dove, and I could feel this charge of energy building up within side her. It raced through her, filling every part of her, and when it hit her brain, she didn't know what to do with it. She slowly stoop up, and walked towards the farther door. "Mady,wait!" I went after her grabbing her arm.

"Let go of me Keith," she said. I had always had nicknames growing up, which always denoted to me signs of affection. When some one close to me uses my name in a serious tone, I freak out internally, and start to lose it. I let go of her arm.

"Don't go," I said, tears building inside of me. "Please don't go." She stopped the door, turn towards me, and pushed it open, stepping out into the lobby. I watched her go, and at that moment, everything I had felt with my heart, every moment of loss hit me hard on, and leveled me harder than any blow Evan could ever hope to land. I dropped to my knees, realizing for the first time, just how alone I was, and how alone, I had always been. The girl who I felt so much more than love for, had just turn her my back on me, and walked out. I had lost any chance I ever had with her in that sheer moment. Tears fell from my cheeks, and I rested there, the only person who could possibly save these people, completely destroyed emotionally. My mother had died, Xander was gone, and Mady had turned her back on me. Weren't these the people I was fighting for?


	20. Fall

Track Insert - Social Distortion "Reach for the Sky"

The second my morphing sequence was complete, I grabbed my Psy Blade, and energized it. This battle was not going to be decided with fire arms I decided. We were going to fight this on my terms. In response to brandishing, Evan's twin-blade came out, while his team mates seemed to pull out two basic looking swords.

"Go," he commanded. Reid was the first to charge, with Derrick, her companion behind her. I parried her first strike, and then slashed across Derrick's chest. I turned around to face Reid again, and she slashed me across the main armor. While Derrick regained his stance from my first strike, Evan came in, and as I spun from Reid's blow, slashed me across the chest. I slammed into the ground, and barely acknowledging the pain, forced myself into the air with my mental powers, before the my opponents swords could be brought down upon me. I hovered above them, and cut my powers off like you would an engine. I came down, slicing Evan across his shoulder, a multitude of sparks spitting out across the cemented ground. I turn around, and in one slash struck Reid, and Derrick, both sending them sprawling towards the ground.

Evan was the first to get back up, and sliced towards my torso. I parried the blow, countering with my own slice, moving horizontally across his chest. He retreated, allowing the blade to move harmlessly through the air, and I advanced again, thrusting forward with my blade. Twirling his blades, he parried the blow and landed a blow straight across the center of my chest. I was forced backwards into the newly recovered Reid who sliced upwards across my back. Crying out in pain, I was forced into the air, only to hit the ground, rolling on my side. Placing both hands on the ground, I took deep breaths, and forced myself back into the air. I had dropped my blade in mid-air, and determined to get back, I brandished my Enea, and fired two shots, Derrick, and Reid were unable to get out of the way, and both of them went down for the moment. I rolled forward, and grabbed the handle of my blade again, just in time to block a slice from Evan that was brought down in a chopping motion to my exposed head region. I struck his weapon, forcing it upwards, and him back so I could regain my stance, but I didn't see Derrick, who tripped me, sending me back to the ground. I rolled to the side, as his sword blade struck the ground I had previously occupied only moments before.

"You're doing good kid," came the reassuring voice of Sean on the other end.

"You're welcome to step in at any time," I replied. Focused, I propelled myself onto a bench using my powers. Reid charged me thrusting, and I parried the thrust, then parried a second attempt. I jumped over, and as she spun around slicing, I parried the slice again, and dealt her a slash across the chest. I turned to face Evan who slashed me once across the chest, and then again. Sparks shot from my armor, lighting the area for a moment. And again I landed on my back. Pulling out my Enea, I shot him twice as he tried to plunge one end of his blade into me. He fell backwards, and I was back up again, but hurting.

His two teammates, the poor brainwashed souls, came to their leader's aid, and stood in front of him. Together they raised their blades, and charged at me, learning from their previous mistakes. Reid thrusted first, and I parried but Derrick struck my exposed side as I did. Grimmacing from the pain, I left myself exposed again, and Reid came in for a slash across the chest. I spun to the side, and as I faced forward again, Evan once again landed two slashes across my chest. My armor took severe damage from these strikes, and sparks erupted. I fell to my knees in pain, and then my hands to the ground. Evan reared up, and then kicked me as hard as he could in the stomach, sending me spinning in the air. I hit the ground, and as I forced myself up, the three of them regrouped together, their leader standing tall and proud in the center. They're gloves glowed white, and I knew what was coming next. The cast their hands forth, and arches of white energy tore across the night sky. Warning shots they were not this time, and they tore at my armor all around me. My armor crackled with energy, and then there was this great impact that forced me through the air backwards, and I landed on my back, my head facing the sky. I could feel the armor disappating around me, just cracking, and then turning once again into energy.

I clutched at my sides, and everywhere I burned like fire. I was in so much pain, and focus was the furtherest thing from my mind. It seemed like it lasted forever, but the next thing I knew, Evan stood over me, his blade pointed at my chest. His helmet was removed, and he held it in one hand. the laughter of trimpuh roared in my ears, as he grinned sadistically down at me.

"Well fought," he cheered. "Quite the epic battle. But like I said, its finished. You have one last chance, since I'm in such a good mood. Surrender, leave this place, leave my world, and never come back, and you can keep your life." The pain still filled my thoughts, but other thoughts dripped in as well. My mother was dead, my best friend was gone, and the girl I loved turned her back on me. What was I doing here? Defending people that didn't even know I exisited, people that didn't care about me, some only about themselves. What was I fighting for? Everything I cared about was gone, this world was all I had left, and I lost this battle. I had disgraced my family, its entire royal lineage, and I had no where to turn. She had walked on me, everyone had left me. What I was doing had no meaning. I felt lost, I felt angry, and I felt betrayed. In this one instant, I made decision that no Ranger has ever made, that no Mobium prince has ever given into.

"Take it," I told him. "It's yours." He pulled his blade back, and I stood up slowly. I could hear Sean's protest across the communications link, and with one thought, I servered his link to the grid, and to my communications system. I shut him down. I looked Evan, half glaring, half in pain. "I'm out of here." His laughter filled the air behind me, hauntingly. I didn't turn around to face him. I just kept walking.

I just kept walking, and before I knew it I was some bus terminal in the middle of Philadelphia. I had left mid-day the next day, leaving a letter for Mady in her mailbox, hopefully explaining that which I could never put into words. I called Al from the terminal, and being the good conselor that he was, he tried to talk me out of it. I told him that I left him evidence to expose Evan if ever tried to follow through with his plans. I had a feeling it might keep him in check, for a while at least.

I was numb, as I hung up the phone. I had nothing, and I was alone, but then again I was always alone. I didn't care about the rest of my living family, I just stopped caring altogether. This great hole had just been carved into my heart, and no matter what, there was nothing to replace it. I was empty inside, empty, and numb. I set foot on the bus, as night fell, and I headed to the back. I didn't care anymore, I just rested my head on the window, and part of me was just exteremly glad, not to care.

End of Part 1

Track Insert - Kane "Rain Down on Me (Tiesto Remix Edit)"


	21. Ashes

[Track Insert - Seether feat. Amy Lee "Broken"]

We all want companionship, we all hope for the best out of life. Some of us really don't get that. Some of us spend all our lives alone, because who we are doesn't allow us to connect to other people. We spend our time wishing we had things, that we never will, and we try create things, create bonds, create relationships that we know aren't real. We fool ourselves into believing that we can lead normal lives, but in the process we give up what we truly want, what we truly need, losing our ability to feel in the process. We're left empty, and not happy, and never will we be, until we try and change back to who we are. Some of us are lucky, and we know right away what we have to do, to get ourselves back, but for some the answer is not quite clear, so we become trapped in our fake lives. Duty binds us to the relationships we've created, and morals, and values hold us down. These we wil never give up, because they are who we are. But still, we try to change things, try to make this facade better, try to make it a real life, and then we make worse. Never live life this way, never force yourself into something like this if you do not have too. Protect who you are, be who you are.

For those of you who are lucky to have a life that is not like this, hold onto it. For those who can surround themselves we people whom you know love you, and give you that feeling of being loved, cherish it, protect it. There are those of us out there who dream of that life, and those people, because ultimately, that is the life we do not have, that is what we are missing. Being a Ranger is the most incredible thing I have ever done, and I do not regret a single moment of it, not even losing to Evan. I would never do things different, and I would never be someone else than who've I been. But not having those feelings in my life, has made my job so much harder, and maybe, just maybe, I wouldn't mind if it just got a little bit easier.

It was dark when I awoke, the bus had pulled to a stop at the great city of the western edge of Pennsylvania. Many would wonder why afterwards I had chosen Pittsburgh to run too. Did it serve some special meaning, did it have some sort of place of familiarity. The answer though was much simpler. It was the least expensive to get too. I dug my hands into the pockets of my coat as the frigid air of February rolled into the cabin of the bus. With my backpack slung over my shoulder, I slowly filed out down the aisle. I had been numb the entire ride, and now it felt like I was just waking up. What I had done was now real, and I had gone through with it. I was no stranger to traveling, having done it so many times before, including to several different cities before my conflict with Evan, helping as many people as I could. Fortunately it seemed that during that time, my presence in this world still had gone unnoticed, and since my conflict with Evan had been all I could devote myself too, I'd practically dropped off the radar altogether.

Early morning in Pittsburgh left the streets, and roads quiet. I had taken some money with me, but no one my age really had that much money. I had planned on getting a job or something, but for the moment, all I could do was find shelter. My best bet was to find some sort of motel, or cheap hotel or something, and as I left the bus terminal, I was greeted by someone.

"How's it going tonight?" he asked me. His an older man, African-American in descent. He wore dark clothes, and was a little overweight. His eyes were soft, having seen many years it seemed, probably some not in the best of the times. The warrior part of me was suspicious though, I didn't know what he wanted, or what he was capable of. Appearances, especially in mine or Evan's case were deceiving, that much I knew.

"I'm alright," I said.

"You look lost," he said. "Just get in town."

"Yeah," I replied. "Coming out to visit some friends."

"My name is Michael," he said, offering his hand in a friendly gesture. I shook his hand calmly.

"I'm Keith," I replied.

"How long are you in town for?" he asked.

"A little while," I said.

He looked at my jacket and smiled. "I use to have one just like that."

"Yeah," I said, "I'm a big fan of it. Keeps the cold out." Well that, and my thermal field did.

"Your friends nearby?" he asked.

"Staying in the city for the night," I said. "Gonna go find a place. Might just stick around the terminal."

"Its not safe here," he said. "Everyone coming and going." He had a point, but I wasn't sure whether or not to trust him. I reached out mentally, and felt his emotions. I could feel honesty behind his words, and that at least meant something. "I know a place just around the corner." If he was being dishonest, and planned to jump me or something, it wasn't like I couldn't defend myself.

"Alright," I said. "Lead the way." I followed him into the night, and for several minutes we walked along the streets, the area deserted. Part of me wondered if this was a good idea, but I was already heading somewhere. I just wouldn't follow him if he tried to take me down any dark allies. He talked about his life some, and part of me listened, the other part just being cautious about my new surroundings. True to his word though, he did lead me to a hotel. The desk clerk was probably only several years older than I was. I turned to Michael and thanked him, he wished me well, and left.

"He's a good guy," said the clerk.

"I wasn't sure I could trust him at first," I said.

"A lot of people feel that way," said the clerk. "But you can." I filled out some paperwork for the room, and he led me to the elevator and to a room several floors up. I survey my new shelter for the time being, as he pointed all the features of the room. Something was better than nothing I guess. He bid me good night, and closed the door behind him.

"This is home now," I said to myself aloud. "This is home."

I woke the next morning, a hunger in my stomach. I knew where I was, no doubt about that, but I didn't feel numb anymore. There was pain, and I think from that moment on there would always be pain. Seeing to my immediate needs though, I forced myself out of bed, and got dressed. Locking the door behind me, I left my room, and headed outside in search of food. It was bright out, the clouds gone from the winter, and I took this immediate sign of things to come, maybe the world could get better. Stopping at the local McDonalds, brought temporary relief, but now, I had to figure out a plan. Part of me was surprised to see the world still turning this morning. Part of me wondered if the world had changed while I was sleeping. Evan now with no one standing his way had ultimate access to fulfill what ever plans he may have. I only wondered at what they could be, and as I picked up a newspaper at a drug store, I half expected it to say something crazy like, "Teen takes over school." Strangely and advance of Evan's was absent from the headlines which while puzzling, was somewhat refreshing. It probably meant that he was only biding his time.

I called my father next. I let him know that I was alright, but not where I was. That was all, I didn't have much to say to him, and I never would. His life was a set path he walked for a long time, and he lived his life simply. What he was going through, he wouldn't understand, or at least, he couldn't anymore. I wondered the streets for a while, just thinking over things that had happened, and wondering what was going to happen next. I left my lens visible on my wrist, no desire anymore to keep it hidden from public view. Occasionally my gaze fell to the jewel, and I questioned my abilities, and my heart that went into the powers. What I was no longer mattered to me, because who I was, was not that person. I wasn't this young half-alien prince who could just save his world because of the very virtue of his birthright. My simpler human half was the very core of my being. In essence, I was just a guy, and I had failed, just like humans do sometimes.

I had stepped at the edge of an ally as I stood deep in thought with my gaze on my lens. I turned to look down it, remembering the first time I had come to someone's aid. Helping someone for the first time was amazing, and it was what I wanted to do originally. Now though, things had become so complicated. My eyes traced through the alley, across the dumpsters, and the chipping bricks of the sides of the buildings and to several people that stood at the far end. One looked like he was explaining himself to others, and then suddenly they shoved him into a wall. My left fist tensed, and clenched, and softly the lens on my wrist glowed. I blinked, and my gaze fell to the pavement. This wasn't my fight, and this wasn't my world. I left the entrance to the alleyway, still in deep thought, and found my way back to my hotel. There I retreated to my room, and decided the only way to kill time was to watch movies. I loaded up some DVD up and tried to lose myself in it for a while, hoping to just not think. It didn't work, and before I knew it, I was overwhelmed, and I just broke down crying.

A presence filled the room, and slowly a soft feeling filled the room. I sat with my head in my arms, crying, when I heard. "I'm so sorry."

I looked up, my eyes stained with tears, and what I saw was almost beyond my recognitive abilities. Standing before me was an impossibility, something that shouldn't be. "Mom?"


	22. The Path

I stared at her form in disbelief for what seemed like hours. How was this possible, how was she standing here like this now. There was no doubt that she was a spirit, her form glowed, and it was sort of translucent. Much like Jaga, or Obi-Wan, she appeared in sort of a bluish hue. Her face wore a soft expression though, concern spread across it, concern for me. "How is this possible?"

"I'm so sorry it took me this long," she told me. "I wanted to come to you sooner."

"I don't understand," I told her shaking my head. "How can you be here?"

"Because you're here," she said enigmatically. "Our bond in life, that of mother and son we're so strong that now you can see and hear me even though I've passed on. Your connection to your," she paused a moment, looking for the word, "grid, amplifies the connection." I looked down at my lens and noticed a slight glow to the crystal mounted on the wrist band. She sat down next to me on the bed, the sheets not even being disturbed. Her form was pure energy, and as she reached up to touched my face, all I felt was air. "I am so sorry. If I had been here sooner, maybe this wouldn't of happen."

"Its my fault," I told her, turning away in shame, "I let Evan beat me. I turned my back on everyone."

She pulled her hand back, and smirked as she folded it on her ghostly lap. "Evan didn't beat you."

"Yes he did," I told her. "I was there, I saw him do it."

"What I mean is, you were beaten even before you went into that battle," she said. I felt confused, and my face showed it. "This isn't about you and Evan. This has never been about you and Evan." I turned to look questioningly at her. "This about you and Mady."

"What are you talking about?" I asked her standing up. "She has nothing to do with this."

"She has everything to do with this," she retorted. "Your feelings for that girl have decided battles long before you fought them with Evan. Can't you see that?"

"Well," I said, "even if was a factor, that's not going to be a problem anymore."

"Oh so you think that's all there is to it, cutting off all ties with everyone," she said. "Why didn't you help that person in the ally then?" I opened my mouth to reply, and then closed it when nothing came out. I turned around and faced the window, looking out onto the street below. It was the middle of the afternoon, and already the light was beginning to fade. "She is always going to be with you Keith. It doesn't matter where you go."

"What am I suppose to do?" I asked her. "What can I possibly do? I think about her all the time, she's all I care about, my entire life besides the Ranger thing. Do you know what's it like to carry around these deep feelings, and not be able to share them with her. To be willing to give your life for her without a second thought, or watching her be with someone else, and doing nothing because you know it makes her happy, maybe even happier than you could make her. I can't give up on her, why should I? I'm a Power Ranger god damnit, aren't I suppose to fight for things like this?"

"You can't be with her," she said.

I turned around to face her in shock. "What?"

"I said you can't be with her," she repeated.

"Meaning what?" I asked.

"Meaning you cannot have her in your life the way you want her in it, ever," stated my mother very clearly.

"This better not be the beginnings of jealous mother-in-law syndrome," I accused.

"Its not going to happen Keith," she stated flatly this time.

"What can you see the future now?" I asked her sarcastically. She stared at me like she did when I was little and she was being stern and serious. It seemed even more serious with the ghostly eyes. Her gaze fell to the ground, and then she looked back at me.

"Your fight now isn't with Evan," she said. "It's with yourself. I'll be here to help you along the way, but only you can do the fighting. You need to go back now."

"I'm not going back to that school," I stated flatly.

"I didn't say there, but you have to go back," she said. "You have to be there for what comes next."

"What comes next?" I asked her, suddenly worried that it might be worse than what came before.

She walked up to me, and put her hand on my face. Again there was no feeling that it was there. "You're so hansom. Never forget how much I love you." She smiled at me, and slowly faded into thin air.

Though I had a long streak of stubborn in me, I gave into my mother's warnings. I packed all my belongings back into my travelpack, and checked out of the hotel. It was late afternoon, and decided it was time to go back, and embrace "what comes next." I won't lie, part of me wanted to go back, especially to Mady, but part of me wondered what this life would of been like, if it would of been anything at all.

Shouldering my pack, I stepped back onto the streets and headed for the bus terminal. I had called my father and told him I was on my way back home. Part of me felt like this was giving in to everything else, and that I had just given up again. Maybe my mother hadn't visited me, and I had just dreamed up the whole thing. Maybe it was real, I mean hey, I was an alien hybrid with the powers of a Power Ranger. Its not like stranger things hadn't happen.

I came to an intersection, and looked across the way. I saw the man I met the other night, Michael, in a conversation with several people, they looked like they were mad at him, and I could only wonder what was transpiring. They disappeared into a shop, and I had a feeling maybe at the very least, I should go say thanks, and goodbye, and make sure he was alright while I did. Slowly, taking a detour out of my way, I crossed the street at the light, and wondered towards the store front. I stepped into the store, and shut the glass door behind me. I heard some yelling from the back area, and slowly stalked over that way.

"I don't want to hear that anymore," yelled one voice. "I've had enough of this." I heard what sounded like a click, and then a pair of footsteps behind me.

"What you doing here boy?" asked a large guy behind me. He had an equally large companion, and the face on both of them seemed to indicate that they were quite alarmed at my intrusion. Thugs, no doubt.

"Uh," I stammered. "Do you guys sell postcards?" The lead one rushed at me without a response. I dropped my pack, and waited for him to move in, grabbing his arm as he did, and throwing him to the side. The other guy came at me with a knife, and as he slashed I jumped backwards out of range. I slowly pulled my mental energy together, and then as he came into slash again, he struck a field of energy. He stopped dead on, a look of pure confusion spread across his face, before he found himself flying backwards into the door.

The lead guy recovered his balance and watched his comrade sail across the room into the door. I turned towards him, my eyes glowing red, and a look of fear spread over his face. Fear turned to action though, and he threw a punch at my defensive field. Having his hand slam into the equivalent of a transparent wall, and stop in mid-air not only hurt, I imagine, but must have been very disconcerting. I dropped the field , and kicked him the leg, then as he dropped to his knee, I brought my elbow down on his shoulder. He collapsed to the ground. Grabbing my pack, I stepped over him, and into the back room. It was empty, and the door to the back alley was open. I charged out it and straight into trouble.

Two guys were waiting there for me, one with Michael pinned against the wall, both of them brandishing firearms. "Shit."

"Who are you?" asked the one not pinning Michael against the wall.

"I'm with him," I said nodding towards Michael.

"Then you're going to die with him," he replied, aiming his gun at me. My lens started to glow as I mentally issued the command for the grid sequence.

"You sure about that? Ranger Form, Energize!" I slammed my fingers on to the lens, the same second the guy fired. As the bullet whizzed through the air at me, my armor covered my body, and lucky for me, it slammed into my chest plate, the armor absorbing the full power of the blow. My attacker nearly had his eyes bulging out of his skull.

"What the hell is this shit?" he asked. Using his moment of confusion, I used my powers to throw him to the side of the alley and into the wall with a wave of my hand. He crumbled to the ground, his weapon sliding away from him. The other guy had his gun leveled at Michael's head, his hand obviously shaking.

"Don't come any closer!" he yelled frantically.

"Why don't you just drop it," I told him. "Just get out of here."

"I swear I'll do it if you get any closer," he returned. My hands stayed away from my blaster, because he watching me intently.

"Listen man," I said. "Just drop the weapon, and no one has to get hurt." He was taking shallower breathes now, and beads of sweat formed on his head. His gaze was totally fixed on me. He started to turn back towards Michael, when Michael came in with a right hook, sending the guy to the ground, his weapon leaving his hand. The guy lay on the ground holding his face. I looked at the guy, then back up to Michael. "You okay?"

"Yeah," he said. "Thanks."

I demorphed, and grabbed my pack, and we left the alley. We returned to the street, and walked to the bus terminal.

"I had this feeling about you," he told me. "But I never thought you were some sort of super hero or something."

"I'm not," I told him. "I'm just a kid."

"You saved my life," he told me.

"I helped you," I said. "Like you helped me. That was all."

We stopped in front of the doors to the building, the cold wind whipping around us in the diminishing light. "We could really use someone like you around here. You could make a really big difference. Make this place safer, y'know?"

"Apparently," I said. "I have to be somewhere else. Besides I think that's your challenge."

"Good luck," he told me.

"You too," I replied.


	23. Fragments

Shootouts, suck!

It had been a month since I had returned to the area, retreating to the quaint country side of southern New Jersey. Well, at least during the normal day. I wasn't grounded, I just saw counselors more. At night though, I returned to my old ways, patrolling cities, and trying valiantly to protect, and help as many people as I could. That is what brought me to this place. Flattened against a wall, my armor covering my body, I had my dropped to my side, my hands clenched around my Enea. To the right of me, bullets whizzed past from what apparently were on closer inspection automatic weapons. How did they get these weapons I wondered? Luckily, no one else was around, but that wasn't going to last long. I had snuck onto these guys while they were trying to rob a jewelry store, and thought breaking up their little party might have been a thrill, boy was I wrong. I wasn't sure what kind of firepower my armor could absorb, and I wasn't about to set foot in front of the hail of bullets to my right to find out.

I lifted myself up slowly, and floating gently, I reached the roof. I tore across the rooftop, keep an eye on the alley below. Behind me the authorities had finally gotten a clue, and I could hear the wail of a siren racing across the streets. Blindly the thieves continued to fire where they had last seen me. I jumped onto the ledge until I gotten in front of them, and threw myself towards the ground, and missing. I landed softly on my feet, just as the lead guy collided with me, forcing him back onto the ground. His partner stopped and leveled his weapon at me. I cast my arm out channeling a beam of mental energy into the weapon, and forcing it out of the thief's hand. Amazed, but not stunned, he charged me anyway. I blocked his first swing, and punched him across the jaw, then dropped to the ground, taking his footing out from under him. Using the force from the spin, I forced myself back onto my legs, as the lead guy prepared to bring the hilt of his weapon onto my head. I grabbed his arm, and flipped back onto the ground, grabbing, and holding onto his weapon on the process. Letting go of it and suspending it in mid air with my mind, I quickly checked the other guy, while spinning the weapon in clockwise direction. I grabbed it when it was where I wanted and pointed it at the lead thief's head.

"Freeze Sucka," I said with a grin on my face. Part of me had always wanted to say that. Keeping both hands on the weapon, and looking at his partner, who had stood back up, and started retreating towards the end of the alley that I had come from. I let him go, because by now the police had already, or would shortly arrive and nab him. I turned my attention back to my fallen foe. "How's it going?"

"Please don't kill me," he said, his voice racked with sobs.

"Shut up, and don't move then," I said. I had no intention of killing him, but he didn't need to know that. I pulled the clip from the gun and tossed it aside, then stood up, and turned towards the alley entrance. Already I could hear the squeal of tires as brakes were slammed onto. Red flashing lights started to fill the alley, and that was my cue to get going. I tossed the gun aside, the thief still on the ground. He was breathing heavily, partly out of pain, and partly out of fear, but I merely smiled under my helmet, something he would never see. "Looks like your ride is here. Later." I pressed against the ground with my mind, and the result lifted me into the air, racing into the night sky, high above the city.

It was a beautiful night, the cloud being partly shrouded by a fluffy cloud, the glare from the light illuminating everything in the sky. The warm air of spring was of course less prevalent up here, but it was already starting to penetrate the chill of winter past. I had not gone back to the school to retrieve my belongings. I had not scene Mady in weeks, and most importantly, for some reason that I had not known then, Evan still had yet to rise to power. Everything was good for some odd reason, and for a change I was very happy. I had taken a small intermission from school, so right now I was just working on the farm, which was just relaxing. Being outside all day, and working by myself gave me plenty of time to think about everything that happened, and even though I was pretty tired from all the hard work, I still found time to do this at night, not because I had too, but because I really wanted too.

A crackle of static filled my helmet as the silent communications system suddenly came to life. "There we go," exclaimed Sean on the other end. "Can you hear me Keith?"

"Loud and Clear," I reported seriously. "How are you Sean?"

"Better," he said. "You had me worried, but a week ago I manage to tap into the system, and had basic readouts on your armor, and grid functionality. It seems I finally found my way back into the communications system." He paused for a moment, and I didn't feel like replying. "You had us worried for a while there."

"I can take care of myself," I replied.

"So it appears," he said, his reply calm and serious. "How has everything been?"

"Alright for now," I told him. "Working on the farm, taking some time away from everything else." I hovered in the night sky, just a speck on the horizon. I wasn't Superman that was for sure, but sometimes I just like to hang out among the clouds, but all the mental exertion did wear me out, so slowly like a balloon losing its helium, I drift towards the surface.

"Good to hear things are going alright," he returned. "Al has been wondering the same. He and I worked together after you left."

"I see," I said, dropping towards the Earth, and landing on a rooftop. I focused my thoughts, and then slowly a tear in space opened before me. Stepping through my portal, I found myself back in my room. I mentally issued the de-morph command, and slowly my armor melted away from me, the energy retreating inside the jewel on my lens.

"Listen," he said. "I know what you must have gone through when you lost was rough, but I didn't appreciate getting cut out like that."

"I know," I replied, my voice a little bit more thoughtful. Our conversation continued through the lens on my wrist. "You've been there most of the way with me, and I wasn't very respectful to your help with that. I apologize."

"Accepted," said Sean.

"If your still up for it," I said, "I liked to continue our partnership."

"I'd almost insist on it," he said, and then added with a humorous tone, "besides you pretty much owe me after I cleaned up your mess."

"What you mean?" I said.

"Al used that evidence you had on Evan to keep him check," said Sean. "Actually it was more like he brokered a deal. Evan will comfortable at the school for now, as long as he doesn't harm anyone else."

"You really think that's going to work?" I asked.

"No," said Sean. "But it'll keep him happy for now."

"Let's hope so," I said.

"Listen, come by tomorrow, I'd like to talk to you about something," said Sean.

"Sure," I replied, "about what?"

"I found some new information, you might want to see it." This perked my interest, but at the same time, I was exhausted, and it could wait til tomorrow.

"Sure thing," I told him. "See ya tomorrow. Out."

I thoroughly expecting a good tongue lashing, because as mentor Sean's chore in this was clear, keep the hero on the path of light, but what I got was what I didn't expect. He didn't care. Instead though, as I sat in his living room listening, he seemed more interested on the research he had done in my brief month absence than anything else.

"Wait," I said cutting him off in mid sentence. "This is all fascinating, but shouldn't you be chewing me out for abandoning my duties or something."

"Do you want me too?" he returned.

"Well, no," I replied. "I just feel kind of guilty that I'm not getting it though."

"Well then maybe I don't have too," he told me. "Maybe the guilt will be bad enough."

"So your just going to let the guilt consume me til it causes agony?" I replied.

"Better than any tongue lashing I could give," he replied. "Though if you see Al, he might take his own shot at it."

I rolled my eyes, "Probably not as bad as my dad."

"Anyway," Sean continued, "back to what I was saying. After just running brief searches I began to encounter some similar stories regarding reported alien phenomena on the planet, everything from abductions to sightings of flying saucers."

"Yeah," I said. "I've done a few reports for that in school."

"Yeah," he said. "But imagine how much different it would be now, knowing who and what you are."

"Good point," I said. "So what did you find?"

"When did your mother reach this planet?" he asked.

"Mid fifties," I replied.

"That's what I thought," he replied. "In the mid-fifties, legend has it that a 'flying saucer' crashed in Norway on a remote island, and that the Norwegian government recovered wreckage from the craft, but no bodies."

"They thought the same thing happened in Roswell in 1947," I replied. "It turned out to be a weather balloon."

"What happened to your Mother's ship?" he asked me.

"She had no way of knowing, after she went through the re-birth sequence and was born to human parents, she never saw her parents again," I replied calmly.

"By now we would have ways of detecting that ship in orbit, however big," said Sean. "NASA, the Russians, the Chinese, anyone who's looking, and trust me there are a lot of eyes up there, could see it."

"What if my Grandparents scuttled it, it put it in orbit around the moon, or went somewhere else," I said. Sean sat down in his desk chair and spun around to his console. He opened a few folders and a graphic came up on the screen. Having part of my mother's memory sometimes was downright annoying, because it was like I knew things, but had no conscience access to those memories, I just knew. And the rough symbol he brought up, I knew.

"Does this ring any bells?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said, it was runic in nature, the Mobiums using basic runes to describe ideas instead of letters. Written language was never needed back everything was mental, or stored as code in computers. "Its the symbol of the royal family." The same symbol that was on my belt buckle, a royal seal almost. "Where did it come from?"

"It was scribbled down by a researcher who claimed to work on the craft for the last thirty years," said Sean. "The craft that is being held by a private industry right here in America."

"Craft?" I asked, "didn't you say that only recovered wreckage?"

"Apparently," he said. "They've rebuilt it, or at least part of it. It makes sense though, the jumps in technology, the advancements of human technology since the beginning of the Cold War. The Russians probably had pieces, and so did the Americans. One giant arms race."

"Egged on by Mobium technology," I said, standing over his shoulder as he watched his screen again. "Perfect."

"You know what this means?" he asked me.

"That there's small fragments of Mobium technology on the planet," I said. "Small fragments that need to be collected."

"I guess its time for you to learn how to engage in covert operations," he told me.

"And to think," I said. "All I wanted was a tongue lashing."


	24. Counterattack

I stood in Al's office for the first time since I left the school. I was no longer a student here, in fact no one knew I was even here, which is good, because I could only imagine what Evan would do if he found out I was here right now. I stood with my back against the door, ready to hide should it opened. Al sat on his couch, in silent thought. We had said very little since I arrived, just checking up on each other.

"This place still makes you nervous," he said, his glance carefully on me.

"What makes you say that?" I asked him. My right hand rested carefully on right hand, but it felt kind of tense.

"Your right hand," he remarked with a nod.

"What about it?" I asked him.

"Its been twitching since you got here," he said. I looked down at it, and noticed that the tense feeling was actually a spasming of sorts. "Its the hand you use for your sidearm isn't it?" I turned my gaze away from my hand, and back towards him, nodding as I did. He nodded in response.

"So you managed to stop Evan?" I asked him, changing the subject.

"For now," he said softly. "I think not having you here will be good for both of you. It doesn't give him an equal to take out his frustration, and the tape you gave me will stop him from doing anything rash, at least until he can muster enough courage to try and change things."

"What about Reid, and Derrick?" I asked him.

"I don't know," he said. "Who's to say he won't expand the number of people. As a professional therapist, I'd like to believe there's good in everyone, but maybe there was something in those two that made it easier for Evan to swing them to his side. Maybe he can do it to others."

"I'm sorry for bailing," I told him. "It was the wrong thing to do, and I have no excuse."

"Yes you do," he said. "The story you told me about your mother is pretty insightful, whether or not it was really her spirit, or just part of your psyche acting out. Either way, she was right, Evan wasn't the one who beat you. Mady was." I turned away from him, and looked towards the window I had only a few months before. Spring had come, and the trees held leaves of different sizes and colors on them. "She came to see me last week." I turned back to face him, not quite sure what to say. "She was upset, and she does miss you."

Every muscle in my body tensed, and I felt like reaching out and punching the wall. "Oh my god, this is such high school bullshit. You think it would be easy especially in circumstances like this to just forget all that crap, and focus what's on important." I relaxed for a moment, gaining control of my emotions again, and took a deep breath.

"She hasn't been let in on this aspect of your life," he told me. "To her, it is just a high school thing, as you put it." I looked at him, and realized he was right, as usual.

"I'm not going to be coming back here as a student," I told him.

"I had a feeling," he replied.

"Sean and I are going to be investigating rumors of crashed alien spaceships," I said.

"Planning a trip to New Mexico?" he asked me.

"Not quite," I replied.

"Be careful," he told me, "whatever you do."

"Your the one fighting Evan now," I told him. "I should probably be telling you that." He looked away, thoughtful for a moment. "Did Sean give you the program I told him too?"

"Yeah," he replied. "Straight access to your communications devices, if I ever need help."

"I'm a portal away if you need me," I replied.

"Comforting to know," he said. I watched him, and more importantly I sensed him. He was scared, there was no doubt about that, probably wondering if his family would pay the price before he did, and wondering how many people were now in danger with Evan moving unchecked, and secretly. There was still time to go before Evan left the school, but maybe everyone would be lucky, and he wouldn't return for Senior year, moving on to bigger and better things, and out of his hair at least.

There was very little to say to him, that he didn't already know, and no real tip I could provide him with that would make him feel better. His task, his mission was now clear, and mine was about to change. I waved in front of me, and slowly a portal opened. "Good Luck."

"Same to you," he replied. We smiled at each other, and silently, I left his office.

I'm not going to tell you how we tracked down the wreckage of the craft that crashed in Norway. Needless there were some rumors that led us to a certain multi-national corporation, but of course then we had to figure out which of its many facilities housed the parts, or if each of them housed different pieces. Basically, we spent hours upon hours researching documents, and memos, and any other forms of communications that company might have had, and in the end, we just went to the message boards where rumors like these were posted, and hoped for some lucky. I'm not going to tell the name of the corporation either, because trust me, you don't want to know.

The only thing that was then left for Sean and I to figure out was how to get in. I mean let's face it, we've seen all seen the movies, where the villains have these giant corporations, and their facilities are fortresses in themselves, with endless halls, and small security forces roughly the same size as metropolitan police forces. I wasn't going to get lucky by sneaking in some night, and hoping for some luck, no I was going to have to go a little bit further than just that. No I'd have to know the layout of these buildings, no when the staff involved with them, this was going to take time, study, research planning, and there was one person, or rather one position that could gain such knowledge, and be positioned to observe all these things. That's right, I was going to have become the mail boy.

I mean let's face, making the rounds, delivering the mail, you meet people, you see things, and you develop a pattern. You stick that pattern, everyday, following the same routine, and you notice other patterns too. The best part of the job is the invisibility though, no one cares about you, no one wants to know you. You just drop the mail off, and go to the next person.

You develop a pattern, you walk the same path every day, noticing changes, noticing the differences in people. You note the places security cameras are located, you look for blind spots, anything you can use to accomplish your goal. Sometimes you have to pass up opportunities, what look like golden moments, when everything clicks, and you can just go for it. Patience is key, waiting for the knowledge to come, before acting on your instincts, and if your willing to give it time, then it will come, and you can go. Luck is crucial, because even if you do plan everything out, and patiently wait for everything to become clear, and available, you still have no control over human will, or chaos, the two defining factors, and hitches in any major plan. These two get in your way every time.

This job was perfect, because as it was, I could do it mostly after school, my new local public one that was, and during the time I was out from school, and with summer just around the bend, it would be even easier. Adjusting to a new school is hard sometimes, but not always, and with a bigger school then the one I had been to, I could just blend in. That's all I really wanted to do this time around, not stand out. The rest of year went smoothly, so when I finally did make it to summer, I could slowly continue my plan on gathering intel on the corporation I was infiltrating.

I had a decent setup, leaving the farm, and spending the summer at the family shore house at the Jersey beach. I was alone most of the summer, which is really what I wanted, and plus I could spend most of my time gaining intel.

It was halfway through the summer, when I thought I had finally collected enough information to attempt something. I wouldn't call it a plan, because plans did have a little bit more to them, a little more substance, then say this collection of ideas. I had waited patiently for the information to come, and now I had, but the truth of the matter was, I had never been beyond certain points, so while I could imagine what they may be based upon glimpses, and building configuration, I still had no idea what really lie beyond those doors. But I was determined to find out.

I started that day, like any other day, dressed in my usual button down shirt, slacks, nice shoes, and colorful tie. My hair was barely styled, and looked messy, but hey I was the mail boy, no one cared. I made the first initial rounds like it was any other day, nothing out of the ordinary, my usual greetings, my usual stops. Deep down, I was of course nervous, but I knew that no one really knew anything, and that as far as everyone was concerned, I was just the mail boy.

I was pushing my cart down the same white hallway I had for the last several months, and there at the end of it was one large metal door, a keypad next to it. Cameras watched the hallway like a hawk, and at the end of it, was one single office, that I usually had to make one delivery too. I walked in, not making any greeting to its occupant, I just dropped the mail on her desk. She smiled at me, and without returning it, I returned to my cart. My communications system was engaged, and on the other end, Sean sat blindly, with audio only, waiting for everything to go down.

"I'm leaving the last office now," I reported mentally across the communications line. He gave no response, nor needed too. Everything was going alright so far. I took the bar of my cart, and usually at this point, I turned it around and headed the other direction. This time though I gazed straight ahead, my eyes locked on the single metal door. The keypad shined in the florescent light beams, and behind it, somewhere behind it rested a piece of what could only be denoted as me. There was no covert away around this, no James Bond like device to get me past that door, and no easy way to get in, and plus with me patrolling the halls for this long, my face would be out there, but maybe, just maybe it was time it had to be.

Summoning up all my physical strength, and with a little extra mental strength, I shoved the cart forward, each corner of each tray in it was laced with a small layer of plastic. It wasn't some advanced alien technology this time, just simple old human tactics. In my right hand, my Enea appeared at my mental command, and leveling the blaster, I fired it at the cart as it struck the door, a small explosion obliterating the car, as well as the door too. Alarms sounded, and the game was on.

I dove through the remains of the fiery door, and cart, and suddenly I was in a small room with several very destroyed computers. Empty of personnel, I felt fortunate it that my little stunt had not injured anyone. I ran to the far side of the room though, taking very little time to appreciate that fact. There another door stood, but it opened on first try, and with a little mental forcing on the latch. I found myself on a stairway, and slowly I descended the stairs to a lower level that I had not realized was part of the building. I came to the bottom, and looked around, for something that may indicate my next move. Alarms echoed behind me from the stairs below, but here it was quiet. I kept my blaster low, and slowly moved down the corridor, taking out cameras as I went. I came to the edge of a corridor, and stopped, looking down it, I saw nothing, but heard the soft thuds of footsteps just beyond. They were running, and they were getting louder. Softly I wrapped my hands around my blaster, and took a deep breath, and then I turned the corner. Three guys in suits came around the corner, earpieces in each of their ears, and like a trained assassin, I squeezed the trigger. Bolts of energy left my blaster, striking one, then another, and finally the last, rendering them unconscious, so I could continue my mission. I could see why there had been so many on this level though. At the edge of the corridor were two very big doors. I leaned over the man furtherest away from me when I had fired, and searched him. I found two things on him, the first was a keycard that I assumed opened the door I blew up, and possibly the next big one, and a gun, a real one. I took both, putting the gun behind my back, and the keycard I held onto.

Getting back up, I ran down the corridor to the large doors, and looked for a way to open them, seeing no handles or buttons. There was a card reader at the end, so I walked over, and slid the card through. I small beep, and a click, and the doors slowly pulled themselves open, just like on Star Trek. I leveled my blaster, and marveled at the light that slowly spilled from the room. I gulped, and stepped in.

A high pitch whined sounded as my blaster charged, and I plunged across the threshold of the laboratory. Inside were many tables splayed across the room like a museum exhibit, with small artifacts resting on each table. There were a handful of researchers in the room, and none of them were very happy to see me. I turned towards the wall and noticed another card reader. Sliding my pilfered card through the reader, the doors closed behind me, slamming shut, and then I pointed my blaster at the keypad and fired.

"I'm in," I thought. "Its like a museums, and the curators don't look to happy to see me."

"Are they going to give you trouble?" asked Sean.

"Everyone on the floor now," I said aloud to the occupants of the room besides myself. They looked at me, and then they turned to look at each other for confirmation as to whether or not I was actually there. I leveled my blaster at the person closest to me, who immediately put their hands up, and dropped to their knees. I thought back to Sean my response, "No I think I'm all set." I kept my blaster raised, and from my back, I pulled the gun I had taken off that last guard, keeping it aloft in my other hand, to add to the threat.

Carefully I moved down the center of the room, slowly turning around, making sure no one decided to play hero. Last time I checked, that was my job. My eyes fell onto each bit of wreckage individually, looking for something that may be useful to me in anyway, or at least something, these people shouldn't have. Most of it was charred metal fragments, and while the alloy was more advanced then what they knew of, it was still just charred metal.

"Anyone want to tell me where the rest of it is?" I asked aloud, finishing my tour of the wreckage. No one came forth, and the room was silent. On the other side of the door which I had sealed, a loud grinding sound came, it seemed the security forces were trying to get in. Pressed for time, I decided to lose my cool. "Perhaps a dead body will loosen some one's tongue."

An older gentlemen stood up, he was mid forties, with greying hair, but a well built frame. "Young man, you have no idea what your getting yourself into here."

I smiled, and my glowed red softly. "I think I have a better idea then you may think." He looked at me critically, as the realization of what I was slowly came into his mind, and in the next moment, I could feel fear coming from his emotions, clouding anything else that may be there. "Is there anymore?" Slowly he shook his head, and even through his elevated levels of fear I could sense he was lying to me, so leaving my blaster arm point in the other direction, I leveled the firearm I had taken at him, and cocked the bolt into the chamber.

"Its over here," I heard a voice leveled, and with a pivot of my head, I stared at a younger research assistant, late twenties, with dark hair. I would never forgot his face, because instead of fear, I sensed something else, excitement, and at first I didn't know why. He stood up, and slowly pressing the wall, a small door swung open, and there was latch. He pulled the latch, and the wall next to him slowly raised itself, revealing a hidden room.

"Blake, what are you doing?" asked the doctor in front of me.

I turned to face him, and said, "Saving your life." Inside was but a small alcove, almost like the chamber from the second Terminator movie which housed the arm from the first Terminator. Inside the glass enclosure, rested three objects, that I had never seen before in my life. I stepped away from the good doctor and headed over to the display case slowly. In the center was a bright orange-goldish crystal the rested on a pedestal. It glowed, absorbing the light, and reflecting it back several fold. Part of me knew what it was, but I couldn't put my finger on it, almost like when you see someone from the past, but the name escapes you. I stared at for but a moment, the other two objects of no importance. Perhaps if I had been a bit more observant I would of sensed the assistant's plan. I was alerted to it, by the soft click of a gun being armed behind me.

"Drop your weapons, and put your hands up," he told me.

"Your not an assistant," I said aloud.

"Special Agent Blake," he replied. "I'm with the FBI, and you just blew my cover. Now weapons on the ground." I sighed, and dropped my weapons on the ground. "Now hands up."

Okay, I thought, and as I brought my hands up, my weapons flew through the air, as I pulled them into flight. Startled his eyes followed the firearm, while I grabbed my blaster, and leveled it at his head, the charge of the energy source building. "Didn't they teach you better than that in Basic." His eyes fell on the end of the blaster, a weapon he had never seen before, and knew very little about. His eyes then met mine, and we stared at each for several moments in silence, sizing each other up, our weapons pointed at our respective heads. One twitch, and I would have none, or he'd be out cold. "I'm not here to hurt these people."

"Funny," he said calmly, "not the impression I got."

"These devices don't belong in these hands," I told him.

"I agree," he replied. "That's why I'm here."

"They belong to me," I told him.

"Can I see your papers?" he asked me.

"Left them in the car," I replied.

"That's a shame," he offered. Behind us the noise from the doors became louder as the progress to open them had continued. It wouldn't be long before we saw their bright and smiling faces on the other hand.

"They catch you here, they won't be very happy," I told him.

"Seems we have something in common," he replied.

"I'm taking these," I told him.

"Try it," he suggested.

"Done," I said. My eyes flashed, as he fell backwards, as I pushed him away with my mind, sending him across the room. I directed my energy towards the glass, and released it, destroying most of it, being shatter-proof, it exploded down, and not outwards. I stepped up, and took the crystal into my hand, as Agent Blake slowly climbed back to his feet. Looking at the other devices, I noticed an Enea, that was out of energy, and what appeared to be a navigational cluster for the ship. I fired at the Enea, destroying it instantly, and then turned towards the navigational cluster. I fired two shots, melting part of the main information core. Blake stood up and started to charge at me, as the door those security guys had been so valiantly working at, came down. With weapons both pointed at each other, the security personnel flooded into the room, looking rather angry as they did. Blake and I glanced at each other, realizing that in a moment, their weapons would be trained on us, and as they started brandishing their weapons, we dove behind one of the main tables, as bullets began to fly across the lab.

I landed hard, and spun around, pulling myself back to the table. I sat with my back against as bullets whizzed over the table top and into the wall. Turning to my other side, I found Agent Blake in the same position. "I think they figured out who you are," I yelled over the roar of gun fire.

"No thanks to you," he yelled back.

"How bout we call a truce until we get out of here?" I asked.

Ricochet off the back wall hit between the two of us, and we both tried to duck away. "You're on," he cried back. The whine of my blaster could barely be heard, but as I summoned up my mental energies, and then released them, stopping the flow of the bullets for a moment, I stood up, and let several bolts rip, cutting through the air, and striking several guards. Agent Blake complimented those who several of his own shots, aiming to disable his targets, not kill. Four security personnel were down, but several still remained, and as they brought their weapons to bare again, I issued the mental command to energize the morphing grid. Using the microsecond between level, and fire, I slammed my fingers on to my lens, and accessed my counter attack.

The flash of brilliant red light left my vision, and was replaced by a cascade of metal fragments of bullets were emptied from their cartridge and at me. Impacts rang through out my armor, as the bullets slammed head first into the space age metal. I answered back with my own hail of blaster fire, bolts striking two more security guards forcing them to the ground. I dropped to my knee, and clicked off another shot, striking one guard in his arm. Only two more remained, and they still remained at the entrance to the door. Out of ammo, they ducked behind the door, and Agent Blake used this chance to advance further down the lab. I stepped over a huddling lab technician, and closed some distance. The guards finished their reload, and stood back out. My hand raised in front of me, I channeled mental energy through it, forcing them back into the hallway and into the wall. Agent Blake paused, and looked at me, reconsidering the temporary pact he had made. His glance was only brief though, for he turned back to look at the door was a freshly arrived guard who leveled his gun at Blake, and fired. Wasting no time, I dove in front of the bullet, letting it absorb into my armor, and upon hitting the ground fired at the guard, stunning him in the lower calf. He went to the ground, and in front of my face was an offered hand from Blake.

"Did you just take a bullet for me?" he queried.

"It's what I do," I replied. "Let's get out of here."

"Agreed," he said, confusion present in his voice. No doubt my very existence was the source. I stepped through the door way, and back out into the room that came before. Closing the distance to the next door, with Agent Blake right behind me, I placed my hand on the latch, ready to open it.

"It takes a card," Agent Blake reminded me. I reached down and released my Psy Saber, igniting the blade with my own mental energy, and slowly I cut a hole into the metal, the former constitution collapsing out into the corridor. I stepped through my new opening, and behind me heard Blake pipe in, with a rather bad impression voice, "You cannot believe the power of the Dark Side."

Standing in the hallway, I turned towards him. "Not Vader dude."

"Red lightsaber, mostly black costume," he observed. "Could of fooled me."

"If I was, you'd probably would of been dead by now," I replied, advancing down the corridor. I replaced my blade, and kept a tight grip around my blaster. I had to get Blake out of here, but I wouldn't risk portalling him out, because then he might figure out something about my life, and right now, he already knew enough to harass me, especially if he was with the government. "This is going to be the hard part."

"No kidding," he said. "We just have to get up the stairs, past probably a long line of policemen now, which I might be able to do, but the private security is still a problem, not to mention the defenses in the main area."

"What defenses?" I asked, stopping in my tracks.

"You don't think they've been studying this technology this long, and not learn a thing or two from it?" he asked slowly.

"What are we talking here?" I asked him.

"Electronic Stun fields in certain areas, turrets in others, and they've probably armed their guards with a little bit more fiercer weapons," he reported.

"That doesn't sound good," chimed in Sean across the communications line.

"All we need now is the giant boulder rolling down this corridor," I added.

"I would not be surprised," responded Blake. The door at the end of the hallway popped open and a very angry guard came out with his weapon brandished. Seconds elapsed as Blake dove for cover, and shots rang out, striking my armor head on.

"You're going to have to port with him," said Sean.

"We can't do that, he can give us away," I told Sean, trying to put myself between Blake, and the guard, then trying to fire my own weapon while being hit several shots.

"Didn't you just hear him, its the fricken Temple of Doom Keith," said Sean. "You've got what you've come for, get the hell out." I clutched the crystal in my one hand, while i fired off a shot striking the guard literally in the face. Sean was right as usual, and since I didn't know how much time I had until the next guard showed up, I was going to port now, and explain later.

Before us, a giant rift in space opened as I channeled my mental energies into it. Blake looked at it strangely for a moment, and then I grabbed him by his the neck of his disguise, and pulled him into as we both fled for safety, and comfort.


	25. Zero Crystal

"So who are you guys really?" Blake asked us one more time. "I mean I've seen the armor, and the technology, and the abilities, but they seem like they're almost impossible to be true."

"Let's just say, we're concerned citizens," replied Sean.

"Concerned and involved," I added.

"You know you guys can't just be running around the country like this, especially if your not answerable to anyone," he replied. "No one is going to stand for this."

"Only if they find out about us," I told him. "That's up to you, because I guarantee the company we just took this from," I said holding up the crystal, "isn't about to report any type of theft, because when they're asked what was taken, they're going to have to explain a good deal of questions. And since they know now they were being investigated by the government, whom they most likely believe I'm from, I'm pretty confident the matter will go silent for some time."

"It looks like your willing to stake your life on that too," replied Agent Blake. "How do you know I'm not going to report you guys, and blow the lid off your little operation."

"Intuition, deduction, and a little added help of the empathic abilities mostly," I replied. He eyed me critically for several moments, my best serious face staring back at him. "We're not any type of bad guys."

"I'm going to have to take that little piece of this very large puzzle back with me," he said, pointing at the crystal I was holding in my hand.

I tossed it into the air, and caught it in my hand again. "This is mine, thank you. And trust me, you definitely don't need it more than I do."

"You want me to go back with no story, and no evidence?" Blake asked me. "What exactly should I put in my report?"

"You know," I told him. "You should always go with the truth."

"What about what you just said?" he asked me, and truth of the matter was it did seem a little bit confusing when I thought about it. My goal was simple, he should know, and the right people should know, but not everyone.

"Let the people who should know about us, know about us, and the rest, is totally upon you," I said. "We're here to help, just remember that, but we're not apart of the law. We're not beyond it, or below it, we're a whole different ball game altogether."

Agent Henry Blake stared at me, trying to size up the whole situation in his mind. He wondered whether he could trust us, whether we were who we said we were, and whether or not there were those who he could trust. He wasn't a bad guy, or a politician, or someone out to make a name for himself, and this I could already tell just from the short few moments I had spent with him up until now. In ways, he was just like us, ready to serve, and ready to protect. People came first, and this is what we wanted him to know, because I knew that, that was what he believed as well. "You know, come to think of it, it all happened so fast, I didn't really catch a good glimpse of anything." He extended his hand as an offer, in a way it was like a partnership, but if I had to pick a point where the friendship I share with Henry Blake began, this would be it, it was the beginning of something neither of us could truly realize at that time. In a way, our futures were linked from here on out.

I stared at the hand for a moment, and then back at the man it belonged too. We were taking a leap of faith, but I had a good feeling it was going to be well worth it. A grin spread across my face, and I grabbed his hand, shaking it confidently.

The crystal I had recovered was something I recognized from some of my mothers memories. "The whole point of it," I said aloud as I explained to Sean, several weeks later, "is that it exacts as a focusing lens, refining the level of energy that goes into our localized version of the grid."

"So we have a localized version of the grid?" he asked me.

"No, the grind is a layer of energy that's mainly concentrated towards the center of our galaxy, it might have something to do with the galactic core, we're not sure. But out here on some of the arms, its not as strong as it is in the main part of the galaxy."

"So the unit you've built is sort of like a Ranger Extender?" he asked.

"Right, and this," I said holding up the crystal, "is like an uber signal booster."

"What have be using until now?" he asked.

"A very primitive version of it, which has been enough for our needs, but this will help us out a great deal," I explained. "That is, once I figure out how to put it into the converter."

"You're not sure?" he asked me.

"Well, with all the hybrid technology I had to use, the fusion of our two species, its not exactly an exact science, so it might take some time to adapt it, but we should notice an increase of grid power availability once we have it fitted into place."

"What's that going to do for us?" he asked me.

"I don't know," I said. "I don't have the full memory intact, or my mother didn't have access to that information. It's not an exact science, and Mobium science still has yet to determine all the grid's secrets."

"We call it the grid, what do they do they call it?" he asked.

"There's no spoken word for it, since most of the higher level of discussion is done telepathically among the academics, its more of just a thought." I set the crystal onto the pedestal we had in his little console area, and went and sat down on his couch, flipping on the television.

"Have you seen your mother again since your first episode?" he asked me again, his voice with a slight hint of curiosity to it.

"No," I told him, "but I haven't really needed her. My guess its like an Obi-Wan Kenobi kind of link. She's only going to appear when I need some sort of deus ex machina to get me out of a tough situation."

"Was she there with your battle with Evan?" he asked me.

"No, and besides I meant emotional critical situations," I said. "Though I don't like to think of my mother as a plot device."

"I can understand that," said Sean. He turned back to his console, checking all his screens. "So what's next, business as usual?"

"School, my friend," I told him. "Senior year of high school."

"Hopefully better than last year," he added optimistically.

"Yeah, this year I'll try and stay away from the malicious evil entities that rise up to challenge my very being," I replied non-chalantly.

"You think Evan's given up on his plans?" asked Sean. I turned my attention away from the television for a moment, and thought about that question. It had been quiet for a while now, almost as long amount of time that he was active from changing me to beating me. Now we had gone through the entire summer, and not a single peep from him, which meant he had to be up to something.

"No," I said flatly. "No, in fact, I think when we do hear from him, its going to be bad." I switched off the television and walked back over to the desk, and grabbed the crystal.

"Where are you going?" he asked, as a portal appeared next to me.

I turned to look at him and smiled, "You just reminded me how precious time is these days. I'm going to make sure we're ready for what comes next."

"Grid is online," reported Sean, "and holding stable." It had taken me roughly four days of hard hours put in trying to figure out how to make our current "Grid Amplifier" to accept the focusing crystal we took from the corporate laboratory. Now, we were finally in testing phases, and I was half convinced we wouldn't be able to access the grid, or even power up successfully into a morph. "No fluctuations detected, the Zero Crystal seems to be working the way it supposed too."

"Do you really want to call it that?" I asked him.

"Absolutely," he said.

"Fine, whatever," I replied. "Let's do this." I stood in an open field, literally in the middle of nowhere in rural New Jersey. It was a cool morning in the early summer, so it would be warming up fast, but we needed to do it rather early so no one would wander into us. I looked down to my wrist, and the jewel there glowed a deep dark red light. I watched for several moments, and then a sly grin spread over my face. I realized then how much I really enjoyed having these powers in spite of everything else that had happened up until now. It was a burden, and it was hard, but I don't think I would pick anything else. These powers were really more amazing then anything I could hope to do in this world.

I put my left arm out, turned upright and angled roughly fifteen degrees to the right, so that it was in the center of my body. The thumb was extended outwards, as was the index, and middle fingers pointing towards the sky, the ring and pink bended inwards, touching the palm of my hand. My right hand copied this motion, and remained at my side. "Ranger Form."

I closed my eyes, and crossed my right hand in front of my left arm, the index, and middle finger touching the jewel on the lens. "Energize." Like I had many times before, I felt the rush of energy cover my body, and in instant I could feel the armor on my body, comforting me, and reminding me of just how different I was from everyone else. I smiled under the helmet, opening my eyes, and looking through the visor of the helmet. "Morphing Sequence Complete."

"Power levels stable, no change in armor level or anything," he said. "There's not much difference."

"Check the Grid Power Usage levels," I suggested, having an idea what had changed.

"Wow," he said. "You're only using twenty-three percent of the total capacity of the grid. That really made the morphing sequence and armor more power efficient."

"Not quite," I replied smiling. "We actually have more grid to use now."

"Wait, are you saying we have four times the amount of space we had before?" he asked. "Does that mean we can put MORE rangers on the grid."

"No," I replied. "Well, it is possible, but there are other circumstances to take into consideration."

"Agreed, but this could be what you need to finally stop Evan," he reminded me.

"He seems pretty stopped right now," I replied sarcastically.

"You know what I mean," said Sean. "When he does come back, you can be ready for him. You can stop him. Three more Rangers, fighting for the side of good. You'd have a whole team."

"We're not going to drag any more people into this right now," I told Sean.

"I can understand that line or reason, but at the same time we can guarantee success, and you wouldn't have to bear this burden anymore by yourself," he added. He had a point, an end to solitude would be nice, other people to share this with, people who you could just sit and talk too. But that wasn't going to happen. I was fighting to protect people from this, and I was fighting hard to keep people from it, even with the few close calls. I couldn't just let them find out now, have them join up to the team and bring them in all the way. But if having them fight with me to ensure their protection, wouldn't that be better. "We have the power, we can get the Rangers, it doesn't have to be your close friends, think about the few people who have found about it. Me, Blake, Alyssa, that could be the rest of the team right there."

"I appreciate the thought Sean," I told him. "But even if I did decide to go through with it, I'm not sure I could make the technology work with humans." This was a flat out lie. I was fairly confident I could, but I was set on not getting anyone else into this conflict. Having Sean as a partner was great, but now he was just a voice on a communications line, he wasn't in any direct threat, and he had a relationship, a family, and a job to think about it. So did Blake, and somewhere Alyssa had a future to think about. This was my fate, my destiny, my burden, and in many cases, my joy. This was my path, and for now, I was going to walk it alone.

I lifted myself off the ground, and forced myself into the air as quick as possible, veering for the clouds. I felt like stretching my wings, my mental ones at least, so I soared for the heights, happy that my re-wiring had worked, and thinking in the back of my mind, how nice this would be to share with someone else, this experience here. I was thinking about how nice it would be to share with her.


	26. Friends and Weaves

Let me tell you about my friend Matt. I feel bad because I've mentioned several of my other friends, like Xander, and Zach, and Anna, and of course you know Sean, and Mady, but there are a few that played important roles up until now that were barely mentioned merely because they didn't play a major part in the main story that was my life. This is probably the part were Matt began to play an active role. Matt and I had known each other when we were very young, sometimes even being mistaken as brothers because we looked very similar. Same color skin, same hair tone, similar build though all and all he did end up a little shorter than I.

We had similar passions, video games, role playing, of course my after school schedule was a little more fierce at times then his, but still we got along real well. Off, and on we had been friends for most of my life, but it wasn't until I moved back to New Jersey for good that I got to know the modern version of him. I hadn't really seen him that much in six years.

Originally I had been so focused on myself junior year that I really neglected being with anyone else but myself, and any Ranger duties that needed tending too, and even with the ever present threat of Evan, I still managed to find time after the procurement of the Zero Crystal to just be a normal guy. That time in a way was a commodity, because it certainly wasn't readily available these days. Though my mind was focused, and I didn't have the struggles some fictional characters have with being different, instead of being like everyone else, there were moments when I did enjoy it.

We were riding in a friends car, neither of us could drive, but one of the guys we hung out with had his own car, and though I had spent a week in North Carolina with Xander, I hadn't really been driven around by my peers. It was a new and strange experience which I'm sure some of you are familiar with, but I remember still being uneasy with it. We listened to music, and just talked, the way most people do. Eventually I would get my own license, but for now I was merely a passenger.

There's something to be said about dusk in the country, especially when your cruising in the warm summer air, music being played in the background that's just serene. It was moments like these that really made things different. This was how I relaxed, not being somewhere tropical, or curled up with a book in front of a fire, but here on the road, things were peaceful, and everything went smoothly.

I got out at Matt's house with him, and we wished our friend off safely, watching him drive away into the night.

"How was the beach?" he asked me, as we ascended the stairs to his front door.

"It was alright," I told him. "Needed the time to relax."

"You ready for next year?" he asked me.

"Senior year," I replied. "Can't wait, watch my family's faces when I tell them I'm not going to graduation."

"My family would kill me if I tried that," he replied. "Not something you want to remember?"

"I'll probably be busy," I said. "Maybe if it was earlier in the day."

"I," he started. "I don't know what to tell you." He laughed somewhat nervously like it was the end of a joke. I had a similar laugh from time to time that drove people nuts.

"I don't know what to make it of it all," I said as we stepped inside his early 20th century home, built just around the turn of the century. It was narrow, but had three floors which made up for the extra space. Located in the small rural town that housed my high school as well, it was a nice town home.

"Make of all of what?" he asked me, as we began to ascend the stairs to his third story room.

"Nothing," I said. "I'm just involved in something that's very time consuming."

"A new game?" he offered.

"Yeah," I said. "No."

"What then?" he asked me.

"Just a project, sort of something I'm working on to figure out the rest of my life," I told him.

"How's it going so far?"

"Not so great," I replied. "Every time I think I have a question answered, a new one comes up, and every time I make progress its like I fall backwards at the same time."

"One step forward, two back?" he asked.

"More like five back," I said. "But who's counting?"

He shrugged, as we started the second staircase which led to his room, and his room only, the door to the room at the bottom of the staircase. "Figuring out the rest of our life, is what the next year is about, or so they say to add the pressure of getting into college or not."

"The future is a weird thing," I said. "I feel like some of us have these pre-determined destinies, some great thing we have to accomplish, while others can write their own. Some have to walk certain paths, while others can choose to walk any path they come across. Maybe in a way that's the only aspect of free will any of us have."

"Maybe the future is just the future, a thing, and none of us really have any control over it the way it turns out, for anyone," he replied, sitting down in front of his computer. "Then again, maybe that part of life is just something each of us has to figure out for ourselves." Then in a very Jon Stewart like manor which he was prone to do on occasion he said. "Or....maybe not."

I saw in his very large bowl chair, reclining, and thinking about the subject for several moments. Was everything happening now for a reason? I knew I was part of something great, and then the whole alien thing happened, and now I was a Ranger, but was there something else I was meant for. Did all these events come together to form something that was beyond my control. My thoughts went back to my dream, so long ago, and as I sat in the chair, I realized something very important. Hadn't part of it happened?

_This rift of light opened before me, and I saw this beautiful smile, and a face attached to it, and I knew it was her right away, coming from the rift. She stood in front of me, and the light surrounded her, illuminating her. She sat down on my lap, and wrapped her arms around my neck, her light illuminating me as well. She slowly reached in, as if to kiss me, and then we were running. Running away from the building we were in, the building in my school, we were running from my life, all the while they were chasing us, and we kept running._

Mady was the girl, the light in my world, with the beautiful smile. I ran from the school, I ran to leave the school, and even though she wasn't with me, wasn't she there in my heart, wasn't with her that I ran, and what was chasing me? My fears were chasing me, my fears of losing her. Had all this really come to pass, or was I just being overly paranoid? It wasn't something I could just brush off. At the very least, there was a link, but what did that mean about what was to come? I hadn't spent any time with her for a long time. Was there a chance things were going to happen, was she going to be taken from me, and then transformed into something else?

"Yo Keizel," said Matt.

"What?" I asked, coming back to reality.

"You better get going," he told me. I looked at the clock across the room, and realized it was getting late.

"Yeah you're probably right," I told him, my mind still scattered though. "Later."

"Later man."

"Help, thief!" came the cry from down the street. Towards me sprinted a man clutching a bag to his hand, and behind him, a middle aged woman franticly screeched for assistance. It didn't take a genius to put it together, her purse had been removed from possession, and the man sprinting towards me was obviously the guy who had taken it. Not all problems, not all situations, call for the use of Ranger powers, some can be solved more easily then others. I took a firm stance as the thief charged in my direction, and when he was nearly upon my position, leapt on top of him, trying to bring him down onto the sidewalk. Tried was the operative world, for my timing was off, and I missed him. Stunned by my mistake, I took off after the guy. Using my extra mental abilities, I attempted to make his path harder for him by telekinetically pushing objects into it. A loose crate, a mailbox falling over, a garbage can, anything that might cause him to change his course, or direction, or just slow him up a bit.

Swiftly though he dodged every obstacle I set for him in his path, bewildered no doubt by the coincidence they had presented him with seemingly no other interference than from me. He had been aware of presence since we had taken off down this street, and now every several moments he would look over his shoulder to see whether or not I had given up pursuit. Finally, trying to shake me, he made a pinpoint turn into a side alley. Allies had always gone so well for me before. Nonetheless, I decided to risk it anyway, secure in the sense that if something did go wrong, my Ranger powers would still be at my disposal. Entering the alleyway, I saw him racing ahead still towards the other end. At the far side though, a man stepped out of the backdoor of some sort of establishment and lit a cigarette. He looked up and noticed the thief charging towards him, with me and hot pursuit, and his mind did the quick math. There was something different about this man though. He was relatively young, probably several years older than Sean, but there were wisps in his light hair, making him a little bit older. His build was fair, strong enough to hold his own, and as the thief sprinted towards him, he used his build to put himself between the exit way, and the thief. Cornered, the thief stopped dead in his tracks, quickly glancing over his shoulder again to verify I was still in hot pursuit. I slowed down to a trot to close the distance. The exit way being closer, the thief made his move on the other man, trying to bypass him, but in a quick flurry of movement, the man forced him back. The thief dropped his pilfered baggage to the side, casting it away like refuse, and from his belt brandished a knife that shined briefly in the dimness of the alley. The smoking man though looked undaunted, and as I stood back watching, I waited for the thief to charge. The Smoking man began to look calm, as if sweet serenity had befallen him, and his vision seemed to be focused elsewhere, beyond the man, but encompassing the whole alley.

Thinking he had his chance, the thief charged forward, slashing at the smoking man, who had by now cast his cigarette aside for a defensive position. Before the thief could reach him though, the smoking man went under the charging attack, striking the thief in the stomach with the back of his palm, and then coming up grabbed the attacking arm, and twisting it. There was a loud clang as the knife struck the floor of the alley, as the thief dropped it from surprise. The smoking man released him, and backed up, and again the thief charged him with his fists. Aiming with all his might at the Smoking man's head, he swung blindly, only to have his target duck beneath the intended blows, and away from the fight, landing a blow into the side of thief, sending him backwards. The thief stumbled, and then landed on his back, pain radiating through his system. With each turn the smoking man seem to know where the attack came from, and how to avoid it, and when to strike back. It seemed like the practice discipline of a martial artist, something I still lacked. The thief lied on the ground for a few moments, before trying to stand again. Forcing himself up, he readied himself, then charged for a third time. He aimed another blow at the head, and this time the smoking man was ready, blocking the blow, then seizing the arm of his attacker, launching him forward over his back. His flight though was short as he crashed back onto the floor of the alley, sliding, and quite unconscious. I padded over to where the purse had fallen, and quickly retrieved.

"Thanks," I said, staring at the smoking man, who had drawn another cigarette, and lit it.

"No problem," he said, his voice soft, and his accent heavy with a hint of German. Slowly I closed the distance between the two of us, for he intrigued me, and his style was impressive.

"How did you do that?" I asked him curiously.

"Do what?" he asked, a stream of smoke leaving his mouth.

"You seemed to know how he was going to attack you before he did," I explained. "Like you could see him thinking about the moves."

He smiled for a second, and looked me over critically for a moment. He wasn't looking at me though, he was looking into me. "You're not who you appear to be are you?"

"What do you mean?" I asked him.

"You're energy," he said. "It's very different."

"I don't know what to tell you," I replied, playing stupid.

"Then perhaps your question cannot be answered either," he said, he reached into his pocket, and fished around for something for a moment, before he retrieved whatever it was he was looking for. It turned out to be a business card, which he handed to me, and I took. "When you know the answers, you'll know mine as well." He tossed his cigarette to the ground, and then snuffed it out with his shoe. He stepped back inside the still open door, and let it close behind him. I watched him go, and then looked at the purse still in my possession. First I was going to return it to its owner, then I figure this guy out.

His name was Peter, and he was a music artist. He had stepped out of the back of a club when he had helped me earlier, apparently while setting up for his performance later that night. The club he was in played mostly techno, and he was the featured artist of the night, going under a specific DJ name, which I'd rather not say at this time. I wasn't very into clubs, because being around that many people and having all the emotions, and thought chatter, in that small of an area could be taxing on my extra senses. Regardless though, I had felt the urge to find out what was happening, and who this Peter guy was. I had been in school for almost a month now, and it was early October. It was cold, and getting chillier every passing day, but inside the club after the sun had set, the heat had come up, and now it was warm, very warm.

It was not that overdrawn, heavily decorated, uber rave you'd see on television. It was a modest club with a nice dancing area, very modern, with a few special effects, and a decent sound system. My ears weren't bleeding right off the bat, and that was always a good sign, as far as I was concern at least. I pushed my way through a crowd of people a little older than I, looking for my target. He wasn't up in the main DJ booth, which means he was probably going on a little later, so I hoped to find him now. I slowly made my way to the back of the club, and in a roped off section I saw him sitting at a booth with several other people. Glasses were in front of them, and ashtrays possessed the remains of old, burned down cigarettes. Slowly I made my way up to the rope, and the bouncer who stood beside it.

"Can I help you?" he asked me, the man towering over me, with three times the body of myself. I could have taken him though, one lucky mental shove, and a little Ranger armor.

"I'm here to see him," I said, pointing at the man named Peter. Peter turned his head in my direction, and again he looked straight at me, and into me. It was like he was sensing me even before he heard me. The bouncer turned around to head to the table, but Peter stopped him with a motion of his hand, and then waved me in. The rope was cast aside, and I entered the forbidden area. Slowly I made my way to the table, where moments before a conversation had been going on, but now there was silence.

"We meet again," he said softly, but audibly over the music.

"I'm ready to trade answers for answers," I told him, his friends looking up at me questioningly.

"I can see that," he said. "Please, take a seat." Before me was a free chair, and I pulled it out, sitting down, very upright, my hands folded in front of me on the table. "I didn't catch your name before."

"My name is Keith," I replied.

"Peter," he replied, offering me his hand, which I shook. He leaned back in his chair after the gesture was complete, and stared at me again. "You seem quite different from everyone else in this room."

"That's because I am," I told him. "I'm more different than you might think."

"And why Keith are you so different?" he asked me. I looked at him, and then at all of his friends, not sure whether or not I could trust the rest of them for a moment. Perhaps I had been in folly to even consider revealing myself to this guy, but maybe he could help me, maybe he could hurt me as well too. He could sense this though, and offered a response. "These people are very trustworthy, they've been by my side for a long while, and will keep any information you offer silent."

I stared at him again, and took a deep breath. "Let's just say, part of me is not from around here." Peter looked at me for a moment, and slowly his eyes took on a gleam as he began to understand my response. I had been wearing a long leather jacket over a black shirt, and now my arm pushed out of my jacket, revealing on my wrist the Morphing Lens I wore, complete with red jewel. His eyes fell upon this object for a moment, and then met mine again.

"I believe I understand," he said to me. I looked at one of his empty glasses in front of him, and slowly I raised it off the table slightly into the air. Astonished, his guests watched transfixed on the object as it floated in the area, and then with a rush, it flew through the air into my open, and waiting hand. I put it on the table in front of me. Peter nodded, a smirk spreading across his face. "Believe it or not, I have heard of your kind before."

"I don't believe it," I said, somewhat stunned.

"Ah, but I have," he told me. "They are rumor, fairy tale, but still spoken of. I have never seen one of you before." Perhaps he had me confused with someone else. Or maybe other Mobiums had come to this planet before my family. Maybe it explained why my family choose the planet in the first place. "Who I am though, is somewhat different. I don't have your powers, not by any measure, but what I do have is the ability to see energy. I can see weaves."

"Weaves?" I asked. "What are those?"

"Thoughts," explained Peter. "Or at least the projections of thoughts. Before, in the alley, when you saw me fight that man. I knew what actions he was going to take, because I could see his weaves that he was making before he acted on them. Then, using my own weaves, I slowed him down, and countered his attacks."

I put my hand up for him to stop, "Are you saying you could mentally predict his attacks, like with foresight?"

He paused for a moment, and then took a deep breath. "Imagine that each thought anyone made, me, you, these people around you, was a ribbon, and as they crafted that thought, thought that thought, they created a design with the ribbon. Imagine in a fight, if that ribbon was a weapon, like a whip, that someone used against you, and imagine if you had your own whip, but you won a fight not by cracking a whip against another, but by weaving your whip, like a thread, through your opponents construction."

I stared at him for a moment, trying to make heads or tails of what he was saying, but part of it didn't click, it seemed like a complicated way of explaining things, but I could grasp the basis of the idea, that he could see the thoughts, and visualized them using this method. "Imagine your weaves though to be a current of electricity, striking faster than how fast you can crack a whip, and more able to fold itself in different ways."

"So what you're saying is, you see thoughts at another level, as actual mental movements, and you can counter people in fights by out thinking them?" I tried to explain to myself.

"Kind of, but not quite," he replied. "Like many things of the mind, like I'm sure you're aware of, words cannot best explain it, only a demonstration can do that."

His set was approaching quickly, so time was of the essence. We stood out in the alleyway where we had earlier in the day, him and I stood facing each other, a good deal apart, while his friends propped themselves up against the walls on either side. It looked just like a scene out of Fight Club. The air was chilled, but my heart was pounding, forcing the blood to warm me up as we stood there.

"Fighting should never be an answer, merely a tool," he said, his voice calm. His eyes closed and he took a deep breath, his focus beginning to build. He opened his eyes, and took a defensive position at the other end of the alley. I stood ready, my arms ready to block any blows that may attempt to hit me. Not sure whether or not to make the first move, I waited patiently. "Focus is everything, and for that you need to learn several important lessons, that are true of every form of mental art. Come at me."

I took a deep breath, trying to decide what the best course of action was. I advanced forward, and when I was close enough, aimed a punch for his head. His hand was faster, and spun around to grab my arm, push it away, and then his free arm came in and sliced me in the ribs. I fell backwards some, recovering my balance. "You need to really come at me, or else I can't teach you how this works."

He knew I was holding back some, because I didn't want to bring the full force of my powers against him, but now he had asked me too, and I decided that maybe I should. I closed my eyes and summoned up my full mental powers from deep within me, and when I opened my eyes, I saw a gleam in his. It looked like he had just seen a house decorated in Christmas lights in December. I channeled my mental energies into myself, and then charged forward, through not a punch, but a force forward, trying to knock him off balance, then following through with my first afterwards, trying to connect with a part of him. He leaned his body backwards as the force came at him, and then spun around, getting on of his legs behind me, and tripping me, sending me spinning towards the ground. I hit it back first, and stared up into the night sky.

"Its not about Power, mental or any kind," he said, offering me his hand, and pulling me back to my feet. I stood up and he held onto my hand as he looked at me. "It's about grace of form." We separated again, and this time, using a bit of energy I slowly lifted myself off the ground, hanging inches above the ground before him. I flew forward, still straight into the air, this time aiming a kick at his head, spinning in mid air, he ducked underneath it, and then rolled to the side, as I spun in mid-air, and tried to bring my foot around for another pass, but this time he stood up, and blocked it, stopping it in mid motion. Transferring the energy to his body, he forced it backwards, and me off balance. My feet were back on the ground, and then a flurry of blows were exchanged. I blocked the attacks of his fists, while my own fists were countered as well. I tried speeding up the attacks, using the mental energy to full my physical energy, but it was no good, he just managed to block me at every move, until finally he blocked one attack, and used it to get inside, forcing his hand into my abdomen, and me to fall back several steps, gasping for air. "Its not about speed, its about precision. Again."

Frustrated I charged at him, and he smiled this time, this time releasing my energy into my fists trying to harden the blows. Instead of issuing counter attacks, he merely blocked the blows, and for several moments we were locked in a pattern of my attack being deflected, his blocking prevailing. My frustration grew, until finally, after one block, I fell backwards, and spun around with a kick, connecting with his side, and sending him to the ground, only to have him land gracefully, and leg sweep me to the ground myself, my landing, not so graceful. "Its not about Anger, it never can be. It must be about Peace." He offered me a hand, and pulled me back to my feet, smiling at me, and dusting off my jacket.

"Some of your knowledge of the art is impressive," he told me. "But you don't see the weaves when you fight. This means you must be trained to do such." The back door of the club opened, and someone informed Peter that it was time for his set. He nodded, and thanked the man, and turned back to me. "Do you still have my card?"

I nodded, and handed him the card. He turned it over, and quickly scribbled something on it. Handing it back to me, he smiled, and patted me on the shoulder, then headed back inside the club. I flipped the card over, and on it was an address, and a time and date for tomorrow.

"What was all that about?" asked Sean, who had been listening over the communications line.

"I think I just met the German version of Chow Yun-Fat," I replied.


	27. Holy Night

I closed my eyes, and I felt him, before he felt me. It was just one of the many advancements I had made with Peter over the last two months, and now in the early part of December, I found that I could finally see a different world from the one I had known all my life. He had first used a blindfold to force me to use something other than sight to see, and through earplugs removed my ability to hear. I stood sightless and soundless in a middle of a room, while he circled me. I could sense his presence like I could before, but now it was like I was seeing with a second sight, and I could feel him about me. Without warning, he struck, and I didn't even need to block. I could see his form, or an outline of it though, and I could see his thoughts, where his attacks were going to go, before they came. Using my telekinetic abilities that had been honed, and strengthened, I stopped the attack in mid-air, and then forced him back several paces. I came in with a telekinetic punch, one he could not block, and struck him in the abdomen, and then switching to physical launched a kick at him. He blocked it, but I could see the block before he did. We wove weaves are own, trying to out-weave the others, until finally he came in with an attack that went through my weaves. I took the hit, but then launched a punch at him, but knowing he was going to block it, I dropped to the ground and leg swept him. He hit the ground, and then I forced him across the ground to the other side of the mat with my mind. He came to a rest, his breathing hard, and as I pulled out the earplugs I could hear him gasping for air.

"I think you finally have it," he said. I took off my blindfold too, and light suddenly returned to my vision. My vision was no longer what it was before. It was confusing at first, the first time I could see people's weaves. It was like watching one of those movies where they film the movie at first, and then animate over it. I was seeing two levels at once, and sometimes it caused me to jump unnecessarily, or scare easily. I saw movements that weren't there, but were because people were making thoughts. Sometimes I could turn it off, and just see the real world, and sometimes it was too much, and I could only see the weaves. People would come to describe at those moments of seeming to look beyond what was there, which I guess I was since I really wasn't focusing on anything, in a sense my vision was gone, and only my ability to sense was there.

I offered my hand out, and took Peter's hand, pulling him to his feet. He smiled and nodded at me. "There was a time, when I could of defeated you."

"As I recall, that was an alleyway two months ago," I replied. He smiled, and slapped me on my shoulder. "Thank you for instructing me."

He laughed, "You make it sound like we're through here. We've only just begun. Learning to see weaves is one step, using it is another, but retaining it, means constant practice." There was a knock on the door of his city loft which we used to train in, and he took a towel from the window sill which looked out over the winter city, and Peter went to the door to answer it. There was a sound of a large bolt being released, and then some chatter before Peter came back into the room with a guest. "This man says he's looking for you."

I looked at his guest, and forced a grin. "Agent Blake," I greeted. "How does the season find you?"

"It's too cold in the north," he replied, "I'm from the south originally, and here its just too cold."

"What do we owe this visit?" I asked him. "More importantly, how the hell did you find me?"

"We've been keeping a pretty close eye on you for the past several months," he replied. "And thankfully you've managed to keep yourself out of trouble."

"I do what I can," I replied sarcastically. "Is this a social call, or are you here for a reason?"

"I'm afraid I'm here on business," he replied. "I've been ask to recruit your services."

"I'm not going to work for the United States government, or any other political organization," I told him. "You knew that before you came here."

"We're not asking you to work for us," he replied. "We're hoping you'll volunteer."

"If I don't, are you planning to make life hard for me, and my family?" I asked him.

"No," he said, "I'm merely hoping to apply to your core virtues."

"How so?" I asked.

"There are a good deal of lives in danger," he said. "And if I can't get you to help us, then in about thirty-six hours, roughly fifteen hundred people will be dead."

How does someone say no to something like that? I couldn't, there was no way. I knew Blake was on the level, I could sense it, so I took him up on his offer. He let on that wherever this even was to transpire it wouldn't be here in this country. Instead, he said, I would be flown to the site to a team of specialists who were ready to in a sense back me up. Rule one when working in the government is try as hard as possible to read between the lines.

It was the second week of December 2002. I had boarded the transport plane many hours before, and now after almost a half a day of traveling, I found myself on an overcast airfield early in the morning. It was a sight like I had never been witness too before. The world around me was shifting, and the arid heat was something I'd never felt. I had been all cross the eastern seaboard of the United States, but never had I been out west, or in this case this far east. You see, I was in the one place no wanted to be in the winter of 2002, early 2003, I had just landed on an air base in Saudi Arabia, and very shortly after my landing, I was going to board a chopper that would take me to a site inside Iraq itself.

It was one of those Black Hawks that you know so well from that Hollywood feature regarding the downed crew in Somalia. The chopper ride itself took another two hours, and as we neared the camp, I could tell many had gone to great pains to keep it a secret. It was barely visible until we were right over it, and I actually had to look to make it out, though I could feel some of the personnel below. We landed on the flattest piece of land that had been cleared, and I quickly jumped out, before without warning, the chopper rose back into the air, and returned to whence it came. I watched it go, before I turned around to face several of the camp's occupants who had quickly come forth to greet me. The reception was less than welcoming though.

An older gentleman came forth dressed in desert fatigues, along with two younger guys to his right and left. From the way the other two walked behind him, I could tell that the older guy was the one in charge. He didn't look happy, but of course if I had to be out here for very long, I probably wouldn't be too happy either. "Identify yourself."

I sighed, trying to recall the code name which was also the phrase that would identify myself to these overworked soldiers. "Red Phantom."

He looked at me critically for a moment, trying to analyze me. I had been awarded a flight suit for my trip over here, and still wore the rather bluish uniform which stood out rather well here in the desert. "They sent me a goddamn child."

I smirked, and rolled my eyes, "I was told we'd be ready to get underway immediately."

The older man nodded at me reluctantly. "I'm Colonel Trevors. Let's get inside before some sniper decides to play target practice with you." He turned and headed back towards the tent he came from, with his escorts close in proximity. I followed him inside, and when we entered I was surprised to see the large amounts of advanced equipment inside. These guys were here for a specific purpose, and if I had to guess, I'd say two things right off the bat. One they had been here a long time, and two if they had been here a long time, like before we had actually put troops on the ground, then that meant one thing. These guys were more than likely Special Operations. Come to think of it though, that made a lot of sense, due to the fact that I was probably considered classified, and it wasn't like I was going to be place with a normal unit. Trevors dismissed one of the men who came with him, and as we headed deeper into the tent, which was quite large, we came to a makeshift briefing area. "Have a seat son."

I turned to regard him for a moment, then did as he suggested and took a seat in the back. One by one, seven men filed into the tent, and stood at attention. The one who had left before to I assume retrieve these guys stepped forward. "Reporting as ordered."

"At ease gentlemen," said Trevors. "Take a seat." The headed over to the chairs and sat down in front and around me. They were large guys, much bigger than me, and in much better shape obviously. I was somewhat intimidated physically, I mean who wouldn't be, but consider the abilities I possessed, and with the training I had just received from Peter, I wasn't overly concerned that I couldn't handle myself. Trevors stood at the front, and slowly the board behind him lit up as a projector was shown onto it.

"Here's the situation," he said. An aerial photo of a factory of some sort was shown on the board behind him. "As you know we've been doing heavy reconnaissance on this factory for some time. The reason why, is that we believe its actually a storage facility." The photo changed, and this time, two dark dots appeared on what looked like the road leading to it. "We believe that the Iraqi regime purchased an amount of nerve agents on the black market. Our efforts to topple the government and prevent supplies from coming have been successful so far, but they went to great links sneaking this shipment in. If our intelligence is correct, than they have enough to take a large area, like a city. Originally we believed that the Iraqi military, which is control of the facility was going use these as defensive weapons against U.S. soldiers, but we now believe that the target is actually an encampment of rebel citizens who are fighting alongside us, fighting to free their home. Our orders are to infiltrate the facility, neutralize any resistance, and then capture the supply of nerve agents. The buearucrats in Washington think that this assignment is somewhat beyond the means of this unit, so they have sent us a Special Agent." He outstretched his arm gesturing in my direction. "Gentlemen this is Red Phantom. He will be our mission specialist on this operation."

The soldiers turned towards me slowly, and regarded me coldly. A forced a weak smile, and wave, wondering with an introduction like that whether I'd have to watch out for these guys or the Iraqis. Slowly the soldiers turned back to Trevors, who continued with his briefing.

"Six of us will go through the front door, weapons hot, while two come in from above, surprising any extra resistance. Mortimer, you'll be in the eagle eye position, providing any cover fire we might need. We go in thirty gentlemen. Suit up." They announced their compliance with some sort of military cheer, then quickly filed out to get ready. Trevors stood silently for a moment then turned to face me. "They've been here awhile, and so far we haven't lost one person. When we go in, try to stay out of the way, they're professionals, and I'm not about to lose one, because some wiz kid is tagging along. Is that clear?"

I nodded at the colonel. Who headed off to get ready. I sat there in the briefing area by myself for several moments, and sighed. Sean wouldn't be on the other end for this one, he had to take care of family business, and couldn't assist me, which meant that I was going to be on my own for this one. I wasn't worried about getting in the way of the soldiers, because if it came down to it, I could expand my fields to keep us all safe. I was more worried about the nerve agent. I didn't know if I could protect against that, and more importantly, I didn't know if my armor could either.

We sat behind a dune, while the scouts began observation of the installation. They quickly tried to ascertain the level of troop presence inside, as well as the obstacles we'd have go through to just gain entry. We all laid against the hot sand in desert fatigues, trying to blend in, and hoping some air patrol didn't come by and spot us. At least, I assumed that's what we were doing. Quickly the two scouts came back down to converse with Colonel Trevors. He nodded at the two of them, and with a flash of hand motions gave his troops orders. He filed over the dunes one at a time, crouched low to the ground as we rush towards the installation, hoping to make it to a wall before we were seen. Luck seemed to be on our side, and we made it to the sand colored wall, flattening ourselves out against it. At this juncture the two teams split up, and I had volunteered to come in through the air, though Trevors thought this to be folly, and that I was just going to get everyone killed. He took the rest of his men around the corner though, and I stayed behind with one of the soldiers who had been there when I had first landed. His name was Sergeant First Class, Christopher Andrews. Andrews fired what looked like a grappling hook to the roof, and quickly tried to scale the wall. I watched as he climbed, and then slowly tapping into my mental energies, propelled myself off the ground, and onto the roof, landing as softly as possible. I levitated Andrews the rest of the way up, and placed him next to me. Staring at me intently, he seemed shocked and awed at the same time.

"How did you do that?" he whispered.

"That's why I'm the mission specialist," I replied. He shook his head at me, not sure whether to trust me, or shoot me, but forgetting the latter, he crossed the roof. There was no skylight, or anything you see in the movies, instead, we would have to make a hole in the cement, and drop into the building from above.

Andrews looked at me, and the rope he had taken from his climb up. "Are we going to need this, or can you do it without this?" he asked.

"You better use it," I told him. "I can't do both of us at the same time." I rolled up the sleeve of my fatigue so that my lens was now clearly visible in the sun. "Emergency Power." Softly the jewel on my lens that acted as the focusing crystal for my lens, glowed softly, barely visible in the morning light of the desert. It was morning here, but on the other side of the world where I normal found myself, it was still the evening before. I found myself wondering, as Andrews called into Trevors to report we were ready, what some of the people I knew were doing. How Sean was faring with his family, and how Xander was coping with his situation in North Carolina. My thoughts went to Zach, and Anna nestled safely in Pennsylvania, and to Matt who was probably working on an English paper that was due before vacation. In those brief moments though, Mady preoccupied most of my thoughts, and even though I thought of every one else it was for a mere millisecond, her though, I found myself truly just wondering what she might be doing right now.

_The darkened theater, the lights on the stage are on, and a small audience of the rest of the boarding population sit out in the audience. Choral shells are set up in the corner of the stage, and there is a small band set up in the pit area. Mady and Anna both stand in the Choral arrangement, and slowly a song begins to start. Slowly they begin to sing "O Holy Night" as Keith continues on his mission, and constantly the scene switches between him, and those in the choir._

_O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining,  
It is the night of the dear Saviour's birth._

The order was given, and suddenly the sound of gun fire echoed into the air. In an instant two manhole size holes appeared in the roof, small wisps of smoke rising from the edges of the charge. The rope flew through the hole before Andrews, as he clipped in, and then let himself down the hole. I took a deep breath, and jumped into the hole.

Long lay the world in sin and error pining.  
Till He appeared and the Spirit felt its worth.

In mid air, I activated the lens, my body covered instantaneously by my armor, as I fell, and my Enea in my hand as I dropped towards the ground. As I fell, I could see the other soldiers charging in, the warehouse floor awash in exchanges of gun fire. I fired several shots on my descent, striking several enemy combatants, in different spots of their body, but stunning them in the process, and knocking them out of combat.

A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,  
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

I landed behind several large barrels softly, using my mental powers to channel the energy of my fall away from me, while Andrews landed with a loud thud.

"We're in," reported Andrews. Behind me I could feel the barrels absorb the impact of rounds of ammunition that was slowly forcing them back upon us. To my left I could see three soldiers, Trevors included in the bunch laying down cover fire, as the two to our other side, prepared to rush forward. That left Andrews and I in the center. I turned to see the two soldiers to our left move forward, but as the lead one turned to rush forward, he received a hail of bullets to his body, sending him falling to the ground. With his last bit of strength, the fallen soldier slid his sidearm towards us, and for a moment I watched in breathlessly, for I had never seen someone killed like that before my eyes.

Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!  
O night divine, the night when Christ was born;

Rage came next, and summing up the feeling, I took the weapon in my free hand, and summoned all my mental energy to form a shield in front of me. Standing and turning to face the bullets, Andrews next to me, must have thought I had lost all of my marbles, but as the bullets bounced off me, I returned with my only volley, both from my Enea, and the sidearm of the fallen soldier. Around me I could see the bullets from all the semi automatic weapons slam head first into my impenetrable mental field, as the bullets from the sidearm left. Finally the clip empty, I dropped the sidearm, placing both hands on my Enea, behind me, the rest of the Special Forces team advanced, using my advance as a distraction they needed to "neutralize" the enemy forces.

Trevors led the charge to the back of the warehouse where a small room rested by a hallway. Two soldiers turned to face the room we just came from, guarding the entrance to the hallway from the factory floor. Andrews and I flanked Trevors, until we got to the door to the room. Trevors and I guarded the doorway, while Andrews, and another placed a charge on it. The two soldiers facing towards the factory floor fired, as reinforcements and stragglers began to rally, and try and subdue us. I turned around to see the door fly off its hinges inwards. Andrews and another soldier charged in, while Trevors and I stood outside. Gunfire came from the sentries to the hallway, and from inside the room, and then suddenly from behind me. I turned to see Trevor drop to the floor, and turned to see two enemy soldiers charge me. I threw up my mental barrier as they came at me, letting them run into that, then dropping the field, to take two shots at them both, sending them to the ground.

Quickly I rushed over to Trevors, checking him for any sign of life, but not finding it. He was gone. I watched the two sentries fire from their positions, and then charged into the room Andrews went into. What I found was several dead enemy bodies lying in several positions, their bodies full of bloody holes. Andrews, and his teammate stood over several canisters.

"We found them," he declared.

"Trevors is dead," I told him. A look of anger came over his face. As the next highest ranking officer, he was no in charge of the rest of the mission. "I'm going to get these out of here, can you get your men out of here safely?" He nodded at me, and through my visor I stared at him. "Good luck Sergeant." Andrews and the other soldier left the room, and slowly I concentrated on opening a portal to a place I had only been once. With the sound of gunfire behind me, and the gory scene in front of me, slowly the portal opened, and using every last bit of energy, I lifted the canisters up, and then slowly pushed them through the portal. I took a quick glance back to the war scene behind me, and then stepped into the portal myself.

The snow started to fall in Illinois as we sat out on Sean's deck, a temperate field extended to the edge of the rail, keeping it warmer inside the field, and thus comfortable. I stood there with a can of soda as the flakes hit the edges of the field causing a temporary shimmer of light, and part of me smiled thinking that in away the flakes were becoming a part of me. Sean came up behind me with perhaps a slightly stronger drink.

"So the nerve agent is under federal control now?" asked Sean.

"Yeah, which I'm sure is much better than before," I said sarcastically.

"I thought you trusted Blake?" he asked.

"I do," I replied. "I don't trust his superiors."

He nodded, and then took a sip of his drink. "What's next?"

I shook my head, "I don't know, more training with Peter I guess." I turned my attention back to the field for a moment watching the field catch the flakes.

"Think the neighbors will notice the light show?" he asked, motioning to the field.

"I don't care tonight," I told him. "Tonight it just doesn't matter."

"Did the team get back safely?" he asked me.

"I don't know," I replied. "Blake wouldn't disclose any more information about them." I sighed, and took a sip from my can. "Andrews has a good head on his shoulders, I'm sure he made it out alright, we took a good deal of them out on the way in."

"I'm sorry I wasn't there to give you a hand," he replied.

"It's alright," I told him. "Maybe it was better you weren't there."

He looked away, and then nodded, heading back inside. I stood outside for a while longer, just watching the snow fall.


	28. Earshot

January passed, and it was quiet, much like the winter around me. It had been over a year since I had dove into the thick of things, but now I found myself comfortable with my situation, I guess in some ways too comfortable. Shock wasn't something I experienced anymore, and overall fear of losing loved ones didn't pop into my head as much. Things were going smoother, that's for sure, and training with Peter was most likely the reason. Being more mentally disciplined helped in many ways, often in dealing with people, and as I begun to work with more kinds of people, I got a better feeling for it.

January was a slow month, but when I was out training one night on the roof top above Peter's loft, I found myself suddenly not alone anymore. It was dark out, as the sun still went down early in the evening, something I was never to found of. Peter, and Agent Blake stood at the edge of the roof top, and as I landed from a flip I was practicing, I noticing the two of them hovering. I took a moment to look at the two of them before I started heading over towards the pair. I didn't like the way Blake kept showing up unannounced, and I'm sure Peter didn't like having a federal agent coming and going from his home whenever he felt like. Slowly I came over, decked out in my exercise clothes, and not smelling too pretty.

"Is this guy bothering you?" I asked Peter.

"Hello Keith," said Blake. "How are you?"

"I'm doing good Harry," I told him, "how bout you?"

"Fine," he replied. "Can we go inside, and talk?"

"Straight to business," I observed, "we can if it's alright with Peter."

"No trouble at all," said Peter, playing the gracious host as always. "If you please." We entered into Peter's apartment, and a loud mixture of trance and house filled the atmosphere, making it almost like a club. Peter went over to the amplifier and turned the volume down. "Best part of living out here in this area is that no one is around to be bothered." Blake smiled at him, and then sat down at the counter in Peter's Kitchen, motioning me over. He threw a folder down on the counter, several slips spilling out slightly from their containment.

"When were you going to tell me about him?" asked Blake. Confused, I opened the folder, and frowned. Pictures, taken while under surveillance filled the folder, but the face was not someone I thought I'd have to worry about for some time. It was Evan.

"What do you want to know about him?" I asked, closing the folder, and sliding it back towards him.

"The two of you went to the same damn school," he said, raising his voice along the way.

"I thought he was restrained for the time being," I said. "What happened?"

"He and two others took out two federal agents guarding a site near your old school," he replied, calming down. "Since it was a top secret facility, we can't even disclose to the families that they were killed."

"What was there?" I asked him. Peter stood quietly by his refrigerator.

"I believe I just said Top Secret," said Blake, "as in classified, as in we're not going to discuss that."

Rolling my eyes, and frowning, I decided to prod further, "Did he take something?"

"Yes," replied Blake, "and now we have to do something about it. He, and his accomplices, killed two people; we have to bring him in."

"You're not going to be able to pull that off," I replied. "You'll just end up getting agents killed in the end, and turning the school into a war zone."

"How powerful is he?" asked Blake candidly.

"Do you think if I could have stopped him, he'd still be around?" I asked him.

"So he's more powerful than you?" observed Blake.

"No," I replied, smirking, but wondering the same. "We're equals, or at least we were until he turned two people into mindless slaves, and changed the odds. Why do you think its my 'old school?"

"How do we stop him?" asked Blake.

"You can't," I replied, trying to put as much truth and sincerity into my voice as possible.

"I refuse to believe that," said Blake, putting the folder back into his coat.

"You have too," I said sternly.

"I won't!" he yelled, pointing his finger at me. "Maybe you didn't try hard enough, but the fact of the matter is that he is going to stand trial for killing those agents, or if we can't take him, then I will put a bullet threw his head while he brushes his goddamn teeth, I don't care what it takes, he will pay." He made it to the door by now, and slammed the door behind him, as he left the loft.

"Damnit," I said, slamming my hands on the counter. "He's going to get a lot of people killed."

"He doesn't care," replied Peter. "For whatever reason we do not know yet, he is taking this personally." I turned to Peter, and in his usual wisdom, he was probably right. "You can't get involved in this."

"I don't care about the score Blake has to settle with Evan," I told Peter. "If he goes in though, he's going to put all those people between him and Evan in danger, not to mention Reid, and Derrick who were still under his control."

"You can't get involved," said Peter, reaffirming his stance, and shaking his head in the negative. I sighed, knowing he was right, I would probably only make the situation worse.

I didn't get involved per say, though by now, you know enough about me to know that, I when it came to Evan, and the old school, I wasn't about to leave well enough alone. The next day was Friday, and as luck would have it, I was going to see a movie with Matt, and we drove to the boarding school, a good hour plus drive, to grab Zach. Matt had been to the school once before, but now we were walking onto campus with a mission. I called ahead before we got there, but as we walked in, I knew Zach wasn't going to be ready. I had this distinct notion that Evan would just be there when I got there, waiting for me to surprise me, and expel some saved up banter between two enemies he was no doubt holding for me, but Evan wasn't the person I found there.

She smiled at me, and I practically melted. Talk about going into a situation, ready to handle it a certain way, and being totally disarmed in a heart beat. It wasn't like before where we would see each other every day. Now if I was lucky, it was once a month that I had the opportunity to see her, but there she was, standing right in front of me.

"Hey," she said, the smile replaced by the calm look. "What's up?"

"Um, you remember Matt right?" I said pointing to Matt.

"Yeah," she said, waving, "how's it going?"

"Fine, you?" he replied.

"Good," she replied.

"We're grabbing Zach to go see a movie," I told her. She nodded.

"That's good," she said. "What movie?"

"He's trying to drag us to Daredevil," said Matt grudgingly.

"I think its going to be good," I told them both. Later I was proven to be wrong. "You want to come?"

"I'm supposed to do this thing," she said. "Sorry."

"Right," I acknowledged. Zach came around the corner then, but he wasn't alone, and as we stood in the center of the main hallway, I felt the area chill.

"Hello Keith," said Evan. "How are you?"

"Fine," I replied coolly.

"Still a member of the permanent virgin's guild," he said loudly. I stared at him coolly, mostly due to the fact that I could not think of a come back.

"What's up buddy?" asked Zach.

"Not much man," I said slapping him five.

"Yes," said Evan, "tell us of your adventures."

I stared at him again, ready to just throw him across the floor mentally, and dropping all the cover here and now. For a second I let my wander, as that scenario played out in my head, but I no it was no good, and Mady who stood next to him would quickly become a hostage. "Just _fighting_ the workload of school."

"Hey, I can talk to you real fast?" he said motioning to the room directly across from the main doorway. I turned to nod to Matt to wait here, and followed Evan into the furnished room. It was empty, and he shut the glass door behind him.

"How's business?" he asked sarcastically.

"Let's get this over with it," I told him.

"What no banter for old time's sake?" he asked. "I haven't seen you around here since I wiped the floor with you."

"Can we?" I asked him seriously.

"Seems I have a situation developing with a government agent who's trying to expose me," he said. "And subsequently, I would imagine you as well."

"Blake already knows about me Evan," I told him. "He's a good a friend."

"Well it seems you've had quite a few adventures you weren't so forth coming about," he mocked.

"If that's all you have to tell me, I'll be going now," I said, heading towards the door.

"Not so fast," he said, putting a hand on my chest to stop me. I looked down at the hand, and then back at him, and he quickly removed it.

"If he brings me in, then in court I could uncover secret details about other people like me," he said. "Like you."

"I'm not scared of being uncovered any more," I told him. "I'm not going to go out of my way to do it, but I don't fear it happening either."

"Well, that may be great, but you see I have no intention of standing trial," he told me. "We both know, they're not going to be able to stop me."

"Which is why I'm not getting involved," I said.

"Oh yes you are," he told me. "You're going to stop them."

"I think all this time not doing anything has gotten to you," I told him. "I don't take orders from you."

"I think you will in this scenario," he said confidently.

"Oh yeah?" I asked him. "Why's that?"

"I'll tell you why," He answered quick on the heels of my question, "because if you don't, I'll kill Mady." I was no longer enjoying myself at this point. I narrowed my eyes at him. There was a very uneasy silence between the two of us for several moments.

"You don't want to threaten me," I told him. "Especially with empty ones."

"Did that sound like my empty threat voice?" he asked.

"Bullshit," I replied, raising my voice, "you're going to need all three of you just to keep yourself protected from these guys, who's going to do it? Where will you find the time when your so busy fighting for your life? By the time you stop these guys, the entire school will be evacuated."

"Do you really think Reid and Derrick are the only two under my control right now?" he asked me. "Do you really think I've spent this whole year idle in my plots, sitting on the side lines, thumb up my ass?"

I looked at him, rage building within me, "What have you done? I swear to god, if you've touched her…."

"Relax killer," he said. "I couldn't even if I wanted too. She's a strong willed person for some reason." I took a deep breath in relief, glad that Mady wasn't another mind slave of Evan, no telling what he'd do to her. "Her roommate though was easy to take though, and might I add quite pleasurable too. Anna was an easy catch come to think of it."

"Release her immediately, or I'll…"

"You'll what?" said Evan triumphantly. "You want to throw down right here, and right now? We can, we can settle it here, but unless you've got two more Rangers running around, I don't think you're going to like the outcome." I turned away from him, stared out into the night sky from the many windows in the room. Then I turned to face my friends. I had done so much over the last several months, and here I was now, after being thousands of miles away, only several feet. Mady, Matt, and Zach talked amongst themselves, and I just kept staring.

"Is she worth your revenge?" asked Evan, coming up behind me. "They're going to come, tonight probably. You help me, and she lives, if not, I'll have Anna kill her while she sleeps."

I grounded my teeth together, and clenched my fist together. Peter was right, I should have just stayed out of this, now look what had happened, I was being coerced into helping my greatest threat. "Alright. You win."

"I always do," announced Evan. "Now put on your game face, and have a good time at the movies." He pushed past me, and walked into the hallway, waving at the others before heading off somewhere. I hesitated a moment, then left, returning to my friends.

"You guys ready?" I asked Matt, and Zach.

"Yeah," replied Matt. "Let's go see this piece of crap, and get it over with."

"What was that all about?" asked Mady.

I stared at her intently at a moment, almost to the point of making her uncomfortable. Part of me right then and there wanted to tell her, but I know if I did, she wouldn't understand, and this already bad situation would get much worse. I decided there and then though, that as soon as we had resolved this thing with Agent Blake, and Evan I was going to tell her. I couldn't take this anymore, any of it. Matt and Zach as well would be brought in. I would finish Evan after this battle, as soon as the opportunity presented itself. With Peter's training, maybe we were just in earshot distance of ending this thing. Maybe the best route was to just have Blake's men kill him.

"Keith?" she asked.

"Dude?" asked Matt.

"Nothing," I replied. "I'll tell you later."

"Alright," she said, confused. "Have a good time."

"You too," I told her, turning and heading towards the car, with the other two guys in tow.

The movie was okay, and that description is probably a stretch to say the least. Matt, and I dropped Zach off like hand grenade back at the school, before I sped off for the safety zone of New Jersey. I couldn't stop thinking about my situation with Evan, and I knew that later tonight, I was going to have to port over to the school, and try and keep the person I hated more than anything alive. It felt unnatural, and I was quite upset by it.

"Everything alright?" asked Matt from the passenger seat as we drove through the darkness.

"Yeah," I lied from the driver's seat.

"You seemed pretty distracted," he observed.

"You were right," I replied. "The movie wasn't so good."

"Nah," he said, "it wasn't. But I think something else is bothering you."

I paused for a moment, wondering whether or not I should talk about it. Talking helped sometimes, that's why the sessions with Al went so well. "What if you had to help someone you didn't want too?"

"Like not help how?" he asked.

"What if someone who you knew was a bad person, who hurt people, and used them, asked you for help?" I asked him. "Would you do it?"

"What kind of help?" he asked again.

"Just a really big favor that would probably help him out a lot," I said.

"Would he ever return the favor?" he asked.

"No, probably not," I replied.

"Then probably no," he said. "If he's a bad guy, then he doesn't deserve help."

"What if he was going to do something really bad, if you didn't?" I asked him.

"That doesn't sound like help, that sounds like coercion," said Matt.

"Would you?" I asked again.

"I don't know," replied Matt. "I guess it would depend on what it was."

"Yeah," I said, "I guess you're right."

It was quiet for several moments, as we rolled along deep in our thoughts, before he finally asked, "How deep are you in?"

"Deep," I replied.

"Over your head?" he asked.

"Just at it," I said.

It was quiet the rest of the way, until I finally dropped him off at his house. I went home, and by the time I reached home, it was roughly two hours before I knew I had to be back at the school. I decided sleep was probably not going to happen, so I sat alone in my room, curled up on my couch, watching television. I wasn't watching though, I was thinking, wondering how the hell I was going to do this. I couldn't trust Evan to just let Mady off so my first task was going to have to be to stop Anna from hurting her, without hurting Anna, and then I'd have to come to Evan's rescue, and stop Blake's move. Any one slip, and someone was going to hurt, but if I had enough luck, and enough patience, maybe, just maybe no one had to die tonight.

I spooled up my mental energy, and released it two hours later into a portal. I dug out all my old black clothes, and adorn them, plus several pieces of clothing I picked up along the way, including a nice Kevlar vest courtesy of the United States Military. I may have been a hero, but when it came to government hardware I had a bit of clepto problem. Modifying a standard issue holster into one for my Enea was tricky, but it now adorned my waist, with my Enea tucked safely in it. Another Enea was able to be summoned when I needed it, having fashioned a second one in case of emergencies. It lay safely in the grid.

Plunging through the portal, I suddenly found myself in a darkened corridor of the boarding area of the school, on the second floor of the main building. "Sean," I thought, "get your butt out of bed."

Inside my head his response came, "Why can't we ever do this in the middle of the day?" he replied, sleep entrenched in his voice.

"Because you have work, and I have school," I replied in thought. "Can you bring up Evan's frequency?"

"Online now," he replied.

"We're here Evan," I announced in my thoughts through the com system.

"Isn't this a pleasant surprise?" came his cynical response. "Who ever thought we'd be working together."

I ignored him, as I slowly crept down the hall. Switching frequencies was as easy as a thought, and quickly I was back on the other channel with just Sean. "Are you sure that was the right room number?"

"Al said it would be, and he has access to that kind of information," replied Sean.

"Let's hope he's right," I replied hopefully. I now stood outside of what was potentially Mady and Anna's room, ready to sneak in, and try and stop Anna. If I was wrong, I was about to potentially scare two half naked women, and wake the entire floor…of potentially half naked women. There was no real major bad side here.

"Don't worry Keith," said Evan's voice from the other line which we were still monitoring, "There's been no sign of anything yet."

"Sean, scan for any other active bans, and see if you can tap into the cell bands too," I replied on our line. "Don't tell Evan if you pick up a signal, but monitor it, maybe we can at least get an idea what we're up against."

"Yeah, we" said Sean sarcastically, but under his breath, hoping I wouldn't hear. "I went on the record for saying this was a bad idea right?"

"Loud and clear," I replied.

The crack under the door produced no light, so at the very least they were inside, but whether or not they were asleep was something I had no way of knowing even with my enhanced abilities. I could feel them in there, but I had no way of really sensing if they were sleep. As quietly as possible, I opened the door, just enough to go through, and remembering the way they liked to slam, closed it without making a sound.

"I'm in the room," I thought silently to Sean, almost in whisper, partially thinking maybe my thoughts would give me away. Mady slept in a loft that was constructed in many of the rooms of the building, while Anna had a futon underneath which she could convert into a couch if needed, and there she was nestled safely. I took two steps into the room though, and suddenly her eyes snapped opened. Panicking, I froze instantly, and slowly she rose up from her bed.

"What are you doing here?" she whispered.

"I'm here to help you?" I whispered back.

"What are you talking about?" she said, a little shocked.

"I know about what Evan did to you, and what he's going to make you do," I told her.

"Evan didn't do anything to me," she replied softly. I began to worry I was going to wake up Mady, and that was the last thing I wanted to do. There wasn't enough time for explanations right now.

"She might not know she's been brain washed," replied Sean over the com, and into my head. "She may be set off by a trigger Evan has placed in her head."

"Well what should I do then?" I thought back.

"Stun her, and fix her?" he replied unsure himself.

"You need to trust me Anna," I told her softly, and slowly walked over to her. I got as quiet as possible, and whispered into her ear. "Evan has brain washed you, and if I don't fix you're going to Mady tonight." She looked quite upset, probably because she though I was insane, and looked like she was about ready to scream, until suddenly she seemed to calm down, and then slowly a look of relief came over her faith, followed by what seemed like superiority.

"Not so fast Red Ranger," she whispered, somewhat deeper than usual. Now it looked like it was time to go to Sean's plan B. She tried to shove me backwards, and not thinking about watching her weaves she caught me off guard, but I reacted by lifting her off her bed with my mind, and suspending her in mid-air.

"What's going on?" asked Sean.

"Girl Problems," I thought back. Knowing she was completely unable to move, her vocal cords included, I kneeled down, and brought her slowly back down to the bed. I placed my hand on her head, and could feel the way she tried to resist the field. I closed my eyes, and tried to look into her mind. Finding the altered part of a mind isn't hard, its like finding a pink chair in a line of black ones. It just stands out. Fixing it though, is a bit tougher.

"Can you help her?" asked Sean.

"Maybe I can erase the part of mind that's been affected," I thought back

"Yeah, but we don't know how long that's been like that," he replied. "You could end up wiping out the last six months."

"Yeah, but he probably just gave her the order tonight," I hypothesized. "He didn't know he was going to get a chance at me until then. If I wipe the short term, she won't have the sequence to kill Mady, so if Evan does try to do it, she won't comply."

"You're going to risk Mady's life to a chance?" asked Sean critically.

"Well that," I said. "And I'm going to stun her before I leave."

"See I like that plan," replied Sean. I erased part of her memory, like we discussed, and let her go from the field. Pulling my Enea from my belt, I charged it up, as it released a high pitch whine, which luckily didn't wake Mady. I snapped the trigger, and the rush of the bolt from the gun as loud, but her sleep was still not disturbed. Slowly I snuck back out of the room, praying that Evan wouldn't figure out what I had done, and more importantly that Anna was alright. I closed the door behind me again, and then leaned against it, taking a moment to sigh, and relax.

"I found their band," I heard Sean announce.

"Patch it through," I thought back.

Static filled the line for a second, and having static broadcasted into your head, hurts like hell. "….ject on camera three now heading down main hallway." Another voice came on the line, "Bravo team in place, waiting for order." "Alpha Team, strike so ordered, move in. Bravo you have green light."

I flipped back to the main line, "They're coming Evan."

"Knew it was good to have you around for something," he replied. I heard the doorway from below slam open, and many pairs of footfalls downstairs. Why did I have a feeling, everyone was about to wake up.

"You're cut off," observed Sean.

"I'll have to port," I said, spooling my powers again, and opening a portal below of me. I didn't know exactly where he was, but I had a good idea, as I dropped through the portal, I fell instantly, my surroundings changed as the opening of the other end was actually in the air, above the center area of main hall. I pulled my Enea out, and quickly summoned my second one so both hands had a blaster in them, for I could tell that Sean had already charged the grid. I could feel the two teams of government agents moving down the hall, and in slow motion as I hit the ground next to what seemed to be the center of Evan and his team, I could feel them catch up with me. The word, "Freeze" didn't register as I quickly expanded a protection field around all four of us, as the noises of the guns being cocked filled the air, and weapons aimed in both directions. There were three teams though, one that had come in the main door, and suddenly all I could see was the business end of all these semi-automatic weapons. "Damn."

"By order the United States government, you are under arrest," announced the lead agent. "Lower your weapons and surrender, or we will bring you by force." Each member of his team was in full SWAT-like body armor. I still found myself in the crouched position, not wanting to move and set off a chain reaction of weapons fire.

"You better lower that weapon G.I. Joe," said Evan, "or we'll do it for you."

"Prepare to fire," said the leader.

"Wait," I said. "Your bullets will never get through my field, you'll just be throwing your lives away."

"We'll see about that," said the leader.

"Get Blake in here now!" I said louder. Then the situation became worse, as suddenly Evan's team suited up, their armor appearing on their bodies, they're weapons in hand.

"Stand down, or we will kill you," announced the leader.

"Wait!" I yelled.

"Take aim," cried the leader.

"Stop now," I said.

"Bring it soldier boy," said Evan.

"You have no idea what your doing, he'll kill you all," I said. In the darkness, what could only be thirty agents rose their weapons to torso level, and multiple laser points shining on my chest, my weapons pointing in either direction, and I had this awful feeling that in about five seconds all hell was about to break loose.

"You better make it good," said Evan, "you're only going to get one shot."

"HOLD," shouted a new voice. It was Blake who had finally arrived on the scene.

"Call off your men Blake," I told him. "Otherwise there's going to be a lot more men you're going to have to disavow."

"What the hell are you doing here?" asked Blake.

"Call your men off!" I repeated.

"I don't think so Keith," he replied. "I'm bringing him in for the murder of those two federal agents."

"You'll never take him," I said.

"You going to stop us?" Blake asked.

"No," said Evan, "I am."

"He will massacre your troops before they even have a chance to reload," I replied.

"Empty threats," replied Blake.

"Quite real, I assure you," said Evan.

"Blake call them off now," I said, "before we wake the entire building up."

"Why should I believe you?" he asked.

There was a silence in the room, and slowly he waited for an answer. There was only one thing I could offer. "Because I've never lied to you."

Blake stood there, considering my words, as the tense situation became worse. Who knew if one of these guys surrounding us would go off, and become the catalyst to something much worse. We waited silently in the darkness, only briefly lit by several flashlights the gank squad carried. Moments seemed like hours, but finally, Blake delivered his decision. "Call off your men lieutenant."

"But sir!" interjected the leader.

"That's an order!" exclaimed Blake. "So help me Keith, if he does something again, I don't care what you think of our odds, I'm coming after him, and you as well."

"Alpha Team, Bravo Team, move out," announced the leader, and slowly the two teams lowered their weapons, and slowly retreated away from the scene. I stood up slowly, lowering the two weapons to my side, taking a deep breath.

"Well that was fun," announced Sean.

Evan's Team demorphed so to speak, their armor leaving their bodies. He turned around to face me, a smirk of triumph on his face. "Good Job Keith. I knew you had it in you." I clenched my teeth, and re-holstered my blaster, then turned around to face him. Without thinking I landed a fist straight in his jaw, forcing him backwards. He stumbled several feet, before recovering, his other two companions looking quite defensive, and waiting for the order to take me apart. "No. Outbursts like that are to be expected under such tense circumstances."

"I swear to god, if you force them to come back," I told him, "I'll be with them next time."

"You can't take me," said Evan confidently. I rushed forward, letting everyone's weaves into my mind, quickly arching past his two companions, and through his defensive weave to leg sweep him, sending him to the ground, and putting a blaster to his head.

"Things are different now," I told him. He lay there calmly, his breathing heavy as he recovered from the fall. "And stay out of people's heads." I pulled the blaster back, and pushed past his two companions. Evan stood up behind me, and for the first time, since the first time we had truly fought, and I had him at an impasse, and could sense that he was shaken. It was a refreshing feeling, and as I walked away from it, and spooled up my powers for the port home, I felt a little bit better then when I had come. Poor Anna though, she was probably going to have a big headache.

Mady clapped loudly as the last of her cast bowed out as the curtain fell around them. She had directed the faculty play with Anna this year, and I sat with both of them now, and you could tell how happy they were to have their show go off with a bang. Had things gone differently a week before, it would of literally. I stood up to let them pass as they headed up to the stage to receive an award or flowers or something, I can't really remember. But I clapped for them none the less.

The house lights came up, and slowly the audience filed out of the theatre. I stood on one of the side walkways, watching Mady when suddenly I felt a presence appear.

"She's quite beautiful," I heard, though it wasn't aloud, and as I turned to my side, I could see my mother standing there, a ghostly light over her form. I was pleased to see her, it had been almost a year since I had seen her before. "She has poise, and grace, and tact, and intelligence. She'd make an excellent queen."

"Yeah," I replied aloud, not quite thinking about other people overhearing me.

"You can't be with her," was the next thing she said to me. I turned to look at her critically. "Don't look at me like that."

"You don't have to keep reminding me," I said softly, under my breath.

"Then don't look at her that way," she said softly to me, and don't think the thoughts in your head now. I watched Mady cross the stage with the grace my mother had pointed out, and part of me just felt so deeply for her. Beyond everything I knew I had to do, I felt this deep connection to her, after all the times we had talked. I felt like I knew her so well, better than anyone else, and then I realized she knew me, but only half of me. I had vowed to tell her right after the deal with Evan about everything, but I had chickened out, scared of what she might really think. Scared of being rejected really. What if she didn't like who I was now, what if the Ranger thing, on top of everything else was too much for her. Hell, it was too much for me sometimes.

"I love her," I said softly.

"Then give her up," said my mother. "By holding onto her in any form, you'll end up dragging her into this life."

"And she'll die," I said.

"And what you feel now will amplified ten times in pain," she said. "Trust me." I turned away from the stage, and pushed out into the hallway, and I knew my mother's spirit walked along with me. "You did well the other day."

"Thanks," I said, opening the door to the outside, and stopping for a moment. "Tell me this ends soon. Tell me its almost over."

"I can't," she said.

"I know," I replied, walking out into the dark, cold night, and shutting the door behind me. Behind me, I could feel her spirit watching me.


	29. Crossing Zordon

April. Two months had passed since the incident with Evan, and I found myself living in a different world. Things had changed, or rather I had changed. Training with Peter was easier, more fluid as I would dance about the mat. There were days when I was in the zone, and he couldn't even touch me. I'd block a punch, and then a kick, and then respond faster, putting him on his back. I was training with a cause now, a new determination. It was time to stop him, time to bring Evan down. I had been playing myself before, thinking that maybe the problem would go away, but instead it became worse behind the scenes. He begun to extend tendrils of evil into the people around him, and who knew how many people he could bring under his control. Now that he discovered through his powers or torture he could sway the minds of others, there's no telling what his next plan was. The check of exposure was gone, exposed to the government, but still invisible to everyone else. Things felt more tense, and suddenly I was back under the gun, but this time, like I said before, it was different.

"Again," cried Peter, as he attacked me. His weaves came through brightly, and I blocked every blow, diving under a punch, and then sweeping his legs out from under him. He flipped up to a standing position with a great deal of zest, and zeal. I think he just wanted to get one blow in. "Again."

Training had been like this for weeks, and on top of my stamina, my mental powers had increased as well. I could lift larger objects, throw things, and people further, having sent Peter literally across the room, and knocking him out by accident. More importantly though I found mental clarity, my mind was at peace, and clear. I didn't fight angry, I just fought, my movements graceful, my focus solely on defeating my opponent.

I came for training one day to find Peter with a guess. He was an older gentleman of Asian descent, and he was wearing a very professional business suit, and stood graciously in the kitchen area sipping a drink with Peter. I closed the door behind me, and both of them turned towards me. The older gentlemen studied me for several moments, looking for something particular it seemed, while Peter just smiled.

"Here he is now," said Peter. He waved me over, saying, "Keith come over here, I would like you to meet someone." I approached them slowly, and as I approached the older gentleman, I offered my hand. He took it slowly, and the strangest thing happened. I was hit with this sense of urgency, and immediately, I could feel something happening. I saw his weaves, and in a heartbeat, I pushed backwards, putting distance between the two of us. His weaves were fast, much faster than Peter's, and as he came in with several blows, I did my best to block and dodge as many of them as I could. I had enough luck to parry all of them, but at the same time, as I tried to disable my opponent, I realized I wasn't getting any hits in, so as he came in with a strike, I blocked it, and then forced him backwards with my mind, throwing him back onto the mats, having him land on his back. I was about to come in for another attack when he put his hand up to halt. Peter came up behind me. "This is Master Shen."

"He's very good," replied the fallen Master Shen, as he stood up, and dusted himself off. "You were actually quite conservative in views." There was no trace of accent in his voice, and if I had to guess, I would imagine that he grew up in America. "I'm sorry to greet you in such away, but based on some of Peter's observations, I wanted to see if everything he said was true."

"Keith, Master Shen was the one who first taught me how to see weaves," said Peter, explaining what Master Shen had said. "When you began to advance in training, I began to speak with Master Shen about you, wondering what forms of teaching would be best for you."

"And he's done quite a good job," he said. "He's taught you everything I possibly could."

"How did you come to learn this style?" I asked Master Shen. Suddenly it was like someone flipped on a light switch in the room, and this previously dim light, had suddenly sprung to light. Master Shen looked at me deeply, and a white flash went through his eyes.

"Because it is the style that they have taught for a millennium on Mobius," he replied. It was an energy that I hadn't felt since the death of my mother. It was the presence of another Mobium, a very strong, and powerful mental presence, like standing before a great man, a president, or a king.

"Who are you?" I asked him.

"I am Shen, of the Royal Guard, I accompanied your family here when they went into exile, along with several others," he said, then kneeled down on his knee. "Your highness."

I was speechless, I had never been adorned with such respect before. I knew I was an alien, and alien royalty at that, but mostly I just thought of myself as this human with advanced powers. Faced now with someone from my mother's origin, and faced really with my birthright I was taken aback. I had almost expected never to lay eyes on another Mobium ever, and out of the blue, without any warning, here was another one. "Please don't kneel."

He stood up, "As you wish." He put both his hands into the pockets of his suit. "I was a young when I came with your family here to this planet, my entire family wiped out by the civil war. I can tell you are of noble birth, are you Princess Terisan's son?"

"Yes," I replied softly. "She's no longer with us."

"So Peter tells me," he said. "I am very sorry to hear that. You should also know that your Grandfather, and Grandmother have passed on as well, I was in their service for the rest of their life."

"I see," I replied. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"May I ask your given name?" he asked me. "So what I may know how to properly address you."

"Uh," I said. "Please feel free to call me Keith, but my given name as you put it is, Sonicus Maximus Arterus Legali, son of Terisan Arterian Legali, grandson of Maximus Arterus Legali, King of Mobius."

"This feels very regal all of a sudden," said Peter.

"Prince Soncius," said Shen, ignoring Peter's outburst, and bowing before me. "Now, with the formalities out of the way, we have to engage you in the last bit of your training, before in a sense it's complete."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You've retained the lessons of the technique, the rest is in practice, and application," explained Shen. "The only last thing is the quest."

"What quest?" I asked.

"It's a Vision Quest," explained Peter. "Like the Native Americans used to have, it's a vision you have that may help bring more peace to your mind, and thus more clarity which is important for the form."

"It is linked directly with the Helian," said Shen. "The Helian is a layer of existence intermingled with our own reality that we can on occasion draw power from to aid us. You, as I understand use it to draw armor, and weapons, which is what the military use it for on Mobius."

"We refer to it as the Grid," I replied.

"Yes in away I suppose it can be seen as a Grid," said Shen. "But I must caution you on the use of the Helian."

"How so?" I replied.

"It is a closely monitored thing, and while normal disturbances and fluctuations are part of it, sometimes using too much of it at once can be noticed by others who use it,," he explained. "It may bring, undesired attention."

I nodded, not fully understand what he meant. "I'll keep that in mind." He walked over to the kitchen counter, and from his briefcase he produced what seemed to be a large crystal.

He came over to the mats, and laid it in the center. Unbuttoning his blazer he placed gently on the chair, then sat before the crystal. "Please, sit opposite me." I did as I was asked, and slowly sat down opposite him, the crystal between us. "What your about to experience may seem strange, but despite what you may think, it is more than a vision, consider it as real as you do me. Now close eyes, and clear your mind, when you are ready, I need you to focus solely on the crystal, and the quest will begin."

I took a deep breath, and relaxed, my mind began to clear of all thoughts, and extended my awareness out with my mind, until I could feel the powerful presence of Shen, and the lesser presence of Peter. Suddenly though, I began to feel something else building, and I knew it had to be the crystal, so I turned my entire focus to it. I could feel energy radiating from it, and then suddenly a beam of energy tore from it, and surrounded my body, there was a surge of energy, and suddenly, I found myself, somewhere else.

It was hazy at first, and I could tell I was in a dim corridor. There was a loud banging sound, like metal on metal, and the as haze cleared, I could slowly began to feel the presence of another. Around me I saw the inner workings of machines, and flashing lights reporting readouts in a strange language I didn't understand, and as I watched everything come into focus, there was a figure standing, pounding against what looked like a solid door. His form was mostly black, with symmetrical green lines that ran up and down his body, almost like they represented a wire frame. His eyes were red, and at certain places about his body looked charred, like something had been done to him. His sword was jagged in many places, its design having similar to features to himself, and with all his might he brought it down on the sealed door.

"Open this door Red Ranger!" it cried, and behind him, many different forms began to emerge. They were very different shades, but all possessed the same design, and suddenly I realized where I was, and who I was with.

"Ecliptor?" I posed the question to the air about me, but it was aloud, and foolishly, it brought attention with it.

"Huh? Who are you?" said the great villain that but a character on a television show to me moments before. Now he seemed much larger than I remember, and his gaze had narrowed upon me. The robots, the Quantrons rallied around him, several of them with long wedge shape weapons that I'm sure were plenty sharp, and deadly. The situation seemed fantastic, and realizing that they were waiting for answer for me, I gulped slowly, and gave one.

"Me?" I asked again, my courage faltering for a moment. Confidence slowly came back as I realized I was a Power Ranger, and in seemingly fit vision I was having now, I was matched up with this villain. "I'm the Red Ranger."

"Impossible!" he cried, slicing his sword through the air in an imposing gesture. "He is beyond this door."

Shen had said this vision was going to be as real as the reality I was used to, and hoping that with everything considered my powers still worked, I mentally issued the command to energize my grid, but I found that the lens refused the order. Sneaking a glance down to my wrist I noticed that the jewel on the lens was already glowing, and then I realized that the reason the command was refused, was because the grid in this reality was something that was always one. My confidence returned in full force, and spooling up my mental powers, as well as my courage, I dropped both of my arms to my side, my fists clenched. "Then there must be two of us. Ranger Form!" I brought arms out to either side, my hands extended out to their full length, and then bring them back together so that my left hand pointed to the sky with the thumb, index and middle finger, my right hand crossed over my lens, and activated the armor sequence. "Energize!"

Track Insert – Hoobastank "Crawling in the Dark"

"What?" cried Ecliptor as my armor surrounded my body leaving me in a similar costume to the Red Ranger he was familiar with. "How can this be?"

"It's your lucky day," I said taking a defensive position. "Two for the price of one."

"No matter," he said, making another gesture through the air with his sword. "Quantrons, attack!" And they did. They came straight at me, and immediately I defaulted to my training, trying to ascertain their weaves, and it was only then that I realized one important thing. These were robots, and they didn't put out weaves. Drawing my Psy Saber from its side, I decided that the only way I was going to win this was to resort to some old fashion Ranger tactics. I rushed forward, slicing the first one horizontally across the chest, and then spinning I brought the mental blade down diagonally across another. I was rewarded with a shower of sparks, as the robot dropped to the ground. Spinning around as the rest surrounded me, I locked weapons with one of the robots with the wedge weapons, then came with another slice only to have it parried. Behind me Ecliptor continued to chomp away at the door, dedicated to forcing it open.

I parried another blow, before I caught the upper end of his head open, and sliced it across the visual processors, taking the head off in the process. I felt a sharp pain in my back, and flew forward as one of them kicked me in the back, sending me to the ground. Rolling to the ground, I recovered, and grabbed my Enea. Balancing it on my sword, I fired two shots, both of which were received by the robot who had attacked. His arms flayed about wildly as he was forced back, and landed on the deck of the corridor, sparks shooting from his chest. The remaining ones charged forward, and I did the same, bring my Saber to bare, blocking several blows from the arms of several of the Quantrons. I forced them all back as a circle of mental energy exploded from me, sending them to the floor and various bulkheads. I took several shots as some of the fallen ones, putting them out of my misery. One of the Quantrons came up behind me, and wrapped his arm around me, trying to pull me backwards, just as Ecliptor managed to open the door, and force his way into the next room. I elbowed the robot in the chest, forcing him to release me, and then dropped down to leg sweep him. Having on the ground, I raised my saber over my head, and brought it down on the chest of the Quantron. Pulling it from the robot's torso I spun around and sliced it across another Quantron behind me, who was about to attempt the same thing. Suddenly more piled down the hall, and rushed me at once, using themselves as kinetic force, they piled into me forcing me backwards, and down onto the ground. I felt trapped as the great weight of all of them combined kept me pinned to the ground until suddenly, there was this great rush, and this bright orange flash filled everything. The Quantrons above me, turned to stone, and slowly all of them crumbled about me. I stood up finding myself demorphed, and in the original state I had arrived in. My lens was still glowing but for a second it blinked a solid orange color before resuming its normal red glow. My vision became foggy, and just like I had arrived, the room around me began to disappear slowly.

This time something different happened though, I was standing. Everything around me was white, incredibly white. White fog rolled across the ground, and as I turned around to observe my surroundings, I observed that everything was completely the same. I don't how much I actually rotated, but suddenly I realized there was someone else standing there. His features were strange, very alien, the skin being very whitish, and the being possessed now hair. He wore a robe with many different styles on it, each movement of the robe seemed to pick up a different color of the spectrum. His facial features looked soft, and it seemed he had a gentle feeling about him. He produced a small smile from his lips, as he regarded me coolly.

"Greetings," he said softly. "Do you recognize me?"

"No," I told him softly. "You seem familiar but I do not know your name."

"I am a being who is been around since the beginning of time, and until the end of time," he said slowly. "I am inter-dimensional being, and as such I can transverse realities, as well as time." Slowly he began to walk in a circle around me, and I stood still as he talked. "I've seen much, many different worlds, in many different realities, and have guarded many different planets from the forces of evil, a constant of every reality, as are the forces of good. I've mentored many different champions, and many groups of heroes, and now I come before you, in this void between realities, between the one you just experienced, the one where my final demise takes place. Perhaps, now you know who I am?"

"You're Zordon," I said.

"…of Eltar," he finished. "This may all seem very strange to you, for having just been witness to my death, having me stand here before you must be something of a shock."

"Somewhat," I said. "But why have you brought me here?"

"Because you have sought my teachings," he said softly. "You are here, because you have taken it upon yourself to bring my teachings, my ways to a universe I have yet to ever touched, and I am very honored by such an act."

"I don't know how honored you should be," I replied. "I haven't upheld many of the actual beliefs of your Rangers."

"Your still fighting aren't you?" he asked.

"I do what I can," I replied.

"And you have done the best you could of done," he added. "No Ranger is perfect Keith, no ranger is flawless. Everyone makes mistakes, but as long as you try to atone for them, and continue to make attempts at improving yourself, as well as others you walk the path that you have wanted to since the beginning. That is the core Ranger belief."

"My lens blinked for a moment after your energy wave touched it," I said, phrasing it more as a question.

"You were there at my end," he said. And though I hesitate to think about the time, I can only surmised that what it means is that as a member of the side of light, part of me will always be with you."

"What now?" I asked slowly. "What does all this mean?" He smiled at me, and stood in front of me, and slowly he raised his hand up, and there was a bright flash of white.

I flew backwards, and landed on something soft. Breathing heavily, I opened my eyes, and slowly attempted to gather my bearings.

"Are you alright?" came Peter's voice, as well as a rush of movement. As my senses returned I could tell I was laying flat on the mats in Peter's apartment, and slowly I pushed my self back upright.

"What happened?" I asked.

"You were in a trance for a time, and then suddenly, you flew across the room, and away from the crystal," reported Shen. "Did everything go alright?"

"I have no idea," I replied, standing up. "Did anything strange happen?"

"No you were very calm," he replied. "Then you just flew across the room."

I flipped on the com with my line, and said aloud, "Sean, did anything strange happen in the last several moments?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing," he replied from the other end. "Something weird just happened?"

"What?" I asked confused by the meaning of everything.

"Its like the grid's power capacity suddenly became larger, but just by a small amount, its like it can hold just a little bit more juice than normal," he replied. "Like it just received a kind of….tune up."

I looked forward, away from Shen, and Peter, trying to make heads or tails of it all. I thought back to what I remembered of the episode, and my brief conversation with the legendary Zordon. For several moments I remained quiet, but there was only one thing I was thinking about. It was one quote that I kept just repeating itself in my head. "But his spirit will forever live on, in all that is good." I turned my attention to my lens, which rested comfortably on my wrist.

"What?" asked Sean.

"Nothing," I replied shaking my head. "Nothing at all. Just figure out what you can, and let me know something when you do."

"Sure," he replied, and I switched the com off again with a mental command.

"What happened in there?" asked Peter.

"I found someone, I didn't expect too," I replied cryptically.

"Who?" asked Shen.

"Someone, every Ranger should meet at least once," I said, a small smirk spreading across my face.


	30. Interlude Who I Am

Track Insert - Nicol Sponberg "Resurrection (Gabriel & Dresden Remix)")

I wonder how many of you out there now, reading this part of my life still want to be a Power Ranger? Albeit some of the experiences are pretty cool. Looking back over what I've written so far, you can see how far I've come to this point. Finding out my mother was an alien princess, and then using my new found abilities to help people. This of course led to Evan discovering me, and then his mutation and becoming the villain of the story. Our constant battles that went from there, while I tried to pursue Mady, only to have everyone around me slowly fall away, and strangely not by any of my own doing, for the most part. Alone, I fought Evan, and the two people he put under his control, Reid, and Derrick, and really, really got my ass kicked. Then of course there was the part where I turned my back on my partner in herodom, and my Ranger duties, and ran away to try and find some sort of peace of mind, only to discover my folly. My return of course, followed by reconciliation, and a new path. The assault on the nameless corporation which led to the discovery of the crystal we now call the "Zero Crystal" and then of course my partnership with Harry Blake, special agent for the government. After that I met Peter who began to train me in a fighting form that actually used people's thoughts as a type of code on how to dodge their attacks, which I later learned was actually the fighting style taught to people on my mother's planet. My experience with the special forces in the Mid-East in recovering the nerve agent, which then led me to the standoff with Evan, and being forced not to protect Evan, but to protect the incursion team from Evan, and of course my disagreement with Blake. Then to top it all off, I met a member of my mother's family personal security, who then takes me into a vision quest where I encounter the mack-daddy of all beings, Zordon.

It sounds amazing, and trust me, it was. What you didn't see though was the life. As someone said once, "Life is everything in between the major events." As you can see, time skips fast in the story, but there were many moments of not so amazing events. The purpose of a Soliloquy is for a major character to stand alone on a stage and give an address to no one but the audience, for he is alone in the scene. I have a team, and a group of people who stand behind me, but not beside me. Being a Ranger, being the only Ranger, is perhaps the most lonely thing one person can do. You didn't see the awkward growth that I went through, going from a normal guy, to someone who has to carry all these secrets, all this knowledge around. Do you know what that does to people? It closes them up inside.

You didn't see the way that I could no longer talk to people about just normal people, and the way I just sat on the edge of the conversations, just listening, not even truly realizing I was there. I was just happy someone's life wasn't in danger, and I didn't have to do or anything, or if had been some time since the last time I had been in battle, sometimes I would think that it would be great if maybe I did have too. You missed the look in my eyes go from hope, to fatigue, and the chatter box of my character go to silence. Those three years were harsh to me, and left a mark of maturity on me that could not be removed so easily. It was so hard to relate to other people, so hard to just find common ground. Who cared what happened in Hollywood, wasn't it more important how many lives had been lost?

You missed the solitude. The constant time spent by myself, while deep down I desired something more, a relationship that could never come to pass. You didn't see the constant pining for Mady's attention, the ever incessant phone calls that practically drove her mad, for only she received the full end of my pain. How could she but help reject me when she felt so overwhelmed by my very personality. How could a Ranger, someone like me I wondered, who had proven his worthiness to someone like Zordon, miss so entirely when it came to another human being?

However that statement is the answer in itself. I'm not just human. Part of me wanted a connection with other people, yearned for it, that I could never have. It was a bond only Mobiums could share, a bond someone like Mady, or people like Matt, Sean, Xander, and Zach could never experience. It was the linking of two spirits, mentally, whether in love, or in friendship. It wasn't just a bond, it was a pledge, for you see Mobiums mated for life in all there affairs, and friends were almost permanent fixture's to one life. You grew up with your friends, whether they annoyed the hell out of you or not, and while these people which I now called my friends were permanent fixtures was still something in concern. I would never truly know their spirits, and that was perhaps the worst feature, for it meant that even though by human standards I would constantly be surrounded by affection, by Mobium standards, I was alone, I was in solitude.

Peter's training though prevented these feelings from interfering with my determination to stop Evan, but they had yet to disappear entirely from me, and when not in combat, or training, is when they surfaced, and when the person you have come to know as me took shape. This is not a cry for help though, or a warning. For me this was reality, and something I realized was necessary to who I became. For me, this was merely part of being a Ranger, and a Ranger was who I was, and who I still am even to this day. You see it never mattered to me really what happened between the big events, the life that philosopher talked about was nothing, and during that time I was nothing. My real existence was acknowledged when I wore the armor, and when my mental powers were brought to bare to their full force. The job was who I was, the cause was everything, and that person the rest of the time, was just some guy I watched, were I sat detached in the back of my own mind, waiting for the next battle.


	31. Paramount

Track Insert – Hoobastank "The Reason"

We sat down by the lake in early May, just the two of us, and suddenly it was like I was a different person. My confidence in who I was as person, regardless of who that person was firm, and it showed in the dialogue between the two of us. I was much more forward than usual, taking every chance to make my intentions clear. I disregarded anything I felt before, and anything my mother had communicated to me. To me, spring was in the air, the climate warm, and those ancient desires to reproduce that the human race may have parted from sometime ago in their distant past where stronger due to my Mobium half, a part that, that species, never lost.

"You look good," she said, smiling, and looking down for a second. The sun was beginning its descent, and shortly the two of us were going to just go to dinner, and then driving, trying to make the best of the night, and just enjoying each other's company. It wasn't a date, it was just two friends getting together. Maybe though, it could be more.

"You look great," I replied, taking in her beauty as the sun set behind her, framing her in a perfect light. Having grown from children to young adults together, she was now much more than just that teenage girl I had fallen in love with, she was a young woman. She had changed, that much was for sure, and she wasn't the same person I had fallen in love with. Physically she was perfect, think of a starlet you see on television, but imagine her just in an everyday sense. Not always airbrushed to perfection. I was just some guy though, and normal in appearance was a stretch. This was real life remember, I was some muscular guy that looked cute in certain lights. I had my moments, but they tended to be few and far between. Mady though, was always beautiful.

I can't remember for the life of me, what we talked about, it was the usual banter that I'm very inept up, but at least I could hold my own sometimes in just the normal conversation. She knew how to appreciate a good silence though, which is rare sometimes. With nature spilling out around us, we took several moments to enjoy it, since it was just coming back into bloom. I love spring, because it's the end of the night, the end of the dark, and everything comes out of it whole.

We had dinner at a diner nearby, nothing to fancy, but inexpensive enough to suit are small budgets. If you knew what went into supplies for some of the technology I was building, you'd probably fall over and die. The raw materials themselves could be quite expensive. Anyway, as I was saying we were having dinner at a diner, and it was very quaint, and very relaxing. I'm one of those guys who will stare at a girl's eyes the entire time she's facing me. However, the moment she may look another direction, my eyes may drift down, but as I locked eyes with her, and every time since, I always felt this urge to pay her as much respect as possible. I am male though, so I'm not perfect. We had pretty basic sandwich platters, and again the conversation slips my mind, but it was very similar to the that which we had the lake, which is all I remember. The drive was just attempt at peaceful relaxation, though as I recall, since I didn't really have any CDs, she commandeered my MP3 player, and only played her music. Everyone always like to play with those things, and I have no idea why. Of course none of my friends really have one, so I imagine if they did, I may do the same.

We took it easy, and the only thing that really comes to mind as I drove her back to the boarding school was that I was very happy, and very content. I love every minute of being a Ranger, it is what I want to do with my life, but there are times when moments like these are important to my life, because part of me still needs to be a part of something else.

We walked to the main entrance, which was a small paved circle so cars could drive right up to. In the center was a small island with a conifer that was green throughout the year. There were patches of flowers though, and the dusk light seemed to bring out their color. The air was still, but something felt off.

"I had a great time," she said.

"Me too," I replied. "It's always a great time with you." She blushed, and I smiled. "Sorry, that was tacky."

"A little," she said chuckling. "But I think I know what you mean."

"I don't think you do," I replied. "You know there are moments when I feel I could say more to you, tell you things about who I am that you don't know."

"I think I know you pretty well," she said. "I know you're a nice, kind guy. You're smart, too smart for your own good sometimes. I know you're really lonely too. At least you always feel lonely."

"I am," I said softly. "Any chance you can help me out of that?"

"I don't know," she said softly. "You know we can't.."

"..Do this," I said, finishing her sentence. "I find it hard to accept at times."

She paused for a moment, folding her hands into her pockets. "I don't want to do this right now."

"Alright," I said. "I understand."

"Thanks for dinner," she said. Our attention was turned elsewhere though, for a large hole suddenly formed into one of the brick pillars to the right of me. There was a small sound of rushing air as the hole was formed, and both of us stared at curiously, trying to figure out what may have caused such a strange thing. "What was that?"

It was like a light switch turned on in my head, and suddenly I grabbed her, and rushed inside the building with her, forcing her against a wall. She lay flat against the wall, with my body pushed up against her. In most movies this would be the part where the hero, me, scores a kiss as two romantic interests are forced into a tight situation, or it can build romantic tension, instead, I received, "What are you doing?"

"Stay here," I said, pushing off the wall, and keeping close to the ground. I slowly peeked out the door, giving my best guess to where it had to be coming from. Those impacts weren't caused by anything natural. They were impact points from high speed bullets, and since we didn't hear the shot, that means they were coming from far away. If you read this, and you play Counter Strike, I'm sure you've figured it out by now, but for those of you who don't, I'll spell it out for you. Sniper. I didn't know who was trying to kill me, just that they were, and they could have hit Mady.

"What's going on?" she asked, pushing away from the wall.

"Stay back!" I practically yelled at her. She didn't have any idea what was going on, but I didn't know if the sniper was going to target her or not if she wasn't out of range.

"What's wrong?" she asked frantically, suddenly becoming very nervous.

"That's what I'd like to know," came a new voice into the conversation, as Evan came around the corner, and then seeing the window suddenly decided to drop closer to the floor. "What the hell is going on?"

"This has to be your fault," I commented to him.

"Whose fault?" asked Mady.

"You're always quick to blame," said Evan. "There I was trying to take a piss, my back to this part of the school, and suddenly there's a hole in the wall." He came out beside so we could talk softer.

"We we're outside and then there was in the brick pillar," I told him. "It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out from there."

"Guys, what's happening?" she asked again, her demands for information getting louder.

"Relax," Evan said, snapping at her. "It's a good thing this guy is a bad shot. I'm going to go get the gang, and we'll take care of them." He stood up slowly, and suddenly the glass in front of him cracked, but the bullet stopped as it ran into a field I had thrown up just on the other side of the glass. Evan stared at the bullet as it floated motionlessly in the field, the end destroyed by the impact with the mental field. "Now it's personal." His focus intensified into rage, and he bolted out the door. "Take care of her."

I turned to Mady, who was now staring directly at the bullet, which dropped to the ground as I dropped the field that was in place to protect her. She looked like she was about to scream, or break down into tears. Or both. I grabbed both of her arms to steady her, and looked directly into her eyes. "Look at me." Her eyes were still focused on the impact hole on the glass. "Look at me." I shook her to get her to focus on me. She turned slowly and her eyes were of fear. "Go to your room, stay there, I'll be there shortly. I can't explain now, but I will when I get back. Do you understand?" Her breathing started becoming erratic, and I could feel her becoming tense in my hands. "Mady?" She nodded slowly, and I nodded to confirm. "Good, Go." I said, and let her go. She headed off down to the hall to the stairs to her room quickly, and I turned back to the door.

I plunged out, and I could see that while Evan had a head start towards the only direction the bullets could be coming from, he wasn't that far, having to stop for cover several times. I plotted the same root he must have taken, and did my best to close the gap, throwing up a field around me that would protect me from any projectile obstacles. I reached him in no time, having to deflect no shots at all. We stood with our backs to a wall with Evan careful peeking around the side towards the tree line where the sniper had to be somewhere. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Going to stop the person who is trying to kill me?" said Evan, quite annoyed. "Stay out of my way?"

"What are you going to do, kill him?" I asked. "They'll just send another."

"I'm not going to kill him," said Evan. "I'm just going to have a friendly conversation with him using my gun to emphasize any major points I need too. If it goes off, then obviously it has something important to add."

"Killing him is going to send a swarm of men," I told him. "You know that."

"Well," he said. "I'll just have to kill them too. You as well if you get in my way. Besides, I didn't think you cared about not having your identity revealed anymore."

"I care about the lives you're going to end," I replied.

"Listen," he said, turning to face me. "Either help me, or get the hell out of my way."

I stared at him sternly, standing my ground. I wasn't a murder, but Evan did have a point. If we didn't stop him, he was just going to kill us both, and I knew it. If Evan killed him though, there would just be another. Don't you hate when your arch nemesis is right? Kim Possible never has to deal with this. "Fine, but we're going to disable him."

"Kill, disable, whatever," replied Evan, and suddenly a white glow surrounded him, then faded. He stood in darker ranger form in direct opposition to the one I wore, which was mostly white with black highlights. "Get dressed, company is coming."

"Emergency Power," I said softly, and energized my powers mentally. A red glow surrounded my body, and then I stood there in my Red Ranger armor. Evan pulled his weapon from his side, and then what I assumed to be a clip of ammo.

"I'm going to zap in from the bottom," he said. "Why don't you fly in from above, and whoever finds him first can tell the other."

"Right," I said, not thinking for a second he'd actually tell me if he found him. My only hope was to get to him first. "Ready when you are."

He paused for a moment, keeping his gun raised into the air. I could see the wheels and gears turning in his head, and then suddenly they snapped into place. "Go." His body was covered in white light, which became energy, and then he zapped forward towards the tree line. I lifted my self off the ground, and staying as low as possible to the ground, plunged myself into the tree line as the dusk around us closed in.

There was an immediate flurry of activity to my left, and I could see a form plunging through the brush. I altered my course, and landing, I rolled to slow myself down, and broke into a run afterwards. Releasing my Enea from its magnetic holster, I charged the blaster up, and a high pitched whine like a camera's flash bulb filled the air, though my focus was mainly on the brush flying past me. The spring's foliage brought plenty of cover, and it was difficult to see ahead of me, but I was fairly confident it wasn't Evan. Though I knew it to be the person we were after I had no intention of fulfilling our agreement to notify the other, as I'm sure neither did he, so as I chased after the potential assassin, I realized that as usual I was alone.

Coming to an opening, I could make the man, which it indeed was, out more clearly. Middle aged he wore a rough camouflage jacket like you see the old Vietnam vets wear sometimes, and his pants matched the same faded color of his jacket. His hair was a dark brown, and patches were missing where it had begun to fall out. Slung over his shoulder was a carrying case that could only contain a high powered rifle. I took in his form quickly, as I slowly leveled my blaster.

"Stop!" I cried, but knowing he wouldn't, I clicked off a shot which seared across the clearing, clipping him in the shoulder, causing him to drop his rifle. Instantly, a white charge came up behind me, and took form as Evan by my side. His gun was instantaneously leveled, and he took several shots, the loud echo of the gun alerting anyone else nearby to our presence.

"Very stealthy," I observed.

"He's getting away," said Evan, who took off after the assassin. I followed quickly behind him, but being as matched as we were, he was still ahead by a little. The brush gave way to a trail that led to the road, and quickly we flew down it. Evan paused for a moment to fire several more shots that went wild, and I flew pass him, while Evan remained behind. I thought this to be a curious move on his part until I realized why he had stopped. There was a dark grey van parked by the road, and the side door was ajar. I could tell there was a form in the darkness behind it, and then I saw two flashes, as two bullets were released from a gun. I dove forward, and above the bullets raced over ahead. As I looked back up, I could hear the sounds of tires screeching, and a cloud of dust piling up as the assassin successfully made his get away.

"You should take off after him," said Evan coming up behind me, but offering me no aid. I silently pushed myself off the ground and took a quick glance down noticing how the dust from the trail had dirtied my armor slightly.

"No point," I said. "He's gone."

"What happened to being faster than a speeding bullet?" he asked sarcastically.

"Release," I said, my armor melting around me, and returning to the energy it had emerged from. "That's Superman. I don't see you going after him."

"He'll be back," he said. "I'll kill him then."

"They'll just send another," I replied. "You know that right?"

"I'll kill them too," he said. "I don't care how many they send, they'll all be dead men." I wanted to hit him, but that wasn't going to solve anything, and it would only produce one of our drop down fights that always ended in a draw. No doubt his friends would be here any minute if I tried that. I spooled up my mental powers and opened a port to somewhere else. "Leaving so soon."

"Your presence sickens me," I informed him.

"You're too kind," he replied. Disgusted, I stepped through the portal. Emerging on the other side, I found a face of shock and disbelief, as well as fear, and panic. The portal closed behind me, and I stood at Mady for several moments I tried to understand why she might have been so afraid. I stood in the doorway area before it opened up into the larger area.

"What's wrong?" I asked her, then slowly stepped into the room. Seated in a chair would I could not of seen him before was a man, with a gun. He had it pointed at her, straight at her, and his aim was firm with no sense of nervousness about it. I had been able to feel him emerging from the portal, but not his presence was there, and I could sense his conviction, and it told me that this guy wasn't going to freak out and kill someone by accident. If I moved, if I did anything at all, she was dead, and I knew it. "Who are you?"

"You shouldn't be here," he told me. "Leave now."

"I don't think so," I told him. I could extend my field around her, making sure she would be safe, but I had a feeling, that whoever these guys were knew a lot about Evan and I, and was probably aware that I had that ability. "If you know who I am, you know you can't touch her, she's protected, and so am I. Your weapon is useless, and if you don't leave, you'll regret it."

The man who was different then his partner was more physically fit, and in better shape. Younger too, he possessed similar features to his comrade, but he was more attractive. He wore a business suit, like this was a business meeting, and his hand with his firearm in it was gloved, in leather. He smiled at me slightly, and then I felt the weave. The chair he was sitting in suddenly shot through the air, and as I blocked it with my mind sending into the loft area where the girls slept, I turned to face him as he was suddenly with Mady, his weapon against her head. "We'll Romeo," he said. "Why don't you let me out of here, and I'll think about letting her live."

"You hurt her in anyway and its going to be the last thing you ever do," I replied. "You have no idea the pain I can inflict on you."

"Temper, temper," he said softly. "Our all heroes supposed to be this moody." He tightened his grip on his weapon to emphasize his next words. "Get out of the way."

I stared cold icy daggers at him, ready to tear him about, and there was almost no way I could stop a bullet from hitting her, they were just too close for any mental fields. Slowly, with a deep exhale, I took a step to the side. The assassin paused for a moment. "Open one of those things you walk through for us, to doorway at the bottom of the stairs to this place. And I swear to god if its anywhere else, I'll kill her." Thoughts ran through my mind about opening a portal 50,000 feet up, and then porting in and catching her, letting the man fall to his doom, but there was no telling what could happen. Silently, I did as he asked, and he looked at it slowly as it glowed in mid air.

"Well?" I asked. "He paused for several moments staring at it, and then taking a deep breath, plunged into it, Mady still trapped in his grasp. I counted to two, and then followed them through, and suddenly we were at the side entrance to the building, just as the Van slammed the side door shut, the car speeding off. I spooled up the last of my mental energy at the moment, and prepared to give chase through flight, but the backdoors flew open, and two shots were fired. One struck me in the shoulder, and I dropped to the ground in pain.

"Damnit!" I cried out as I held my bloody arm, then fell to the ground in pain. My breathing was heavy, and it took focus to activate my com link to Sean. "Sean…."

"What's wrong?" he asked, suddenly coming in. The energy I was going to use to chase after them I redirected it into a portal, which swiftly opened. Standing up took a great deal of effort, and I plunged through it, falling sideways into it. The other end brought more pain as I slam into Sean's wooden floor. There was a flurry of movement, and suddenly I felt hands on my body. I was lifted onto a couch, and there was a commotion, until I felt something soothing on my arm, then I became somewhat sleepy.

I'm not that much of a wuss, I was only out for a few minutes, but when I came too, my arm was being wrapped in something. Sean had removed the bullet quickly, and sewn stitches into my arm. Okay, so it was more like an hour, but it only felt like a couple of minutes.

"Wait to get shot," remarked Sean.

"Yeah," I said softly, "the bullet just wondered into my arm."

"You should be alright," he said.

"Thanks," I said, sitting up, and just like in the movies, wishing I hadn't. Personally I blame human basic reactions for doing that. I mean it really did hurt, and I let out a groan.

"You should rest," he pointed out.

"Assassins took Mady," I said, standing up, and walking over to a dresser that rested in his basement. I pulled out a blue button down shirt and quickly dressed in it.

"Explanation to ensue?" he asked.

"They had high powered rifles, and guns, and they shot me," I said, giving him the quick version. "I think they want to kill me, I know they want to kill Evan."

"Everyone wants Evan dead," he said.

"Yeah well know one has tried to do it," I said.

"What about the feds," he said.

"Well that was different," I said.

"And you.." he asked again.

"Listen," I said trying to change the subject, "the point is, they never tried like this. These were professional assassins, not store bought government guys."

"You can buy them at stores now?" he asked.

"Sean!" I yelled. "Some help would be appreciated right now."

"What are you going to do?" he asked me.

"Go see Blake," I said. "Maybe he knows something."

"Maybe he's the one that's trying to kill you," said Sean.

"Did you catch the part about store bought?"

"I'm just saying," he said, "maybe he's going through backchannels; you did sort of anger him by protecting Evan last time. He might be more pissed than you think."

"I've got no choice," I said, finishing buttoning. My mental energy had recharged through my short nap, and I begun spooling it back up. "I have to find her; it's my fault she's in this place to begin with."

He looked at me critically, and then smiled, patting me on my shoulder, my bad one that is. I grimaced in pain. "I'm sorry man. Good luck."

"Thanks," I squeaked out, then the port opened beside me. Determined, I stepped through, vowing that anyone who got between me, and her, was going to regret it.

Emerging into Blake's office, I saw him fly up from his desk at my entrance, and not wanting him to do anything foolish; I forced him back down into his chair. "Relax Harry, this is a social call."

"Get out before I call security," he replied.

"I need information," I said ignoring his last comment.

"Why should I help you?" he asked.

"Because I've helped you in the past," I replied. "It's only fair."

"You defended a known criminal," he replied. "Do you know how many laws you've broken?"

"I was protecting you from…." I started, but gave up mid way through. "Listen, I need your help, or an innocent life might perish, and I'm not going to take no for an answer. I swear to god if you don't help me, whatever Evan did is going to look like Nobel Peace Prize material compared to what I will."

Blake was silent for a few moments, considering my words carefully. I didn't like to threaten people, usually I was bad at it, but I wasn't going to screw around. His eyes darted back to me after they sat elsewhere for a few moments considering his situation. "What are you looking for?"

"A pair of assassins took pot shots at me and Evan today, and then ran off with a friend of mine," I said loudly.

"A shame they missed," he replied.

"Any idea who they might be?" I asked, ignoring his comment. He looked at me, and then his eyes darted to the left. He stood up, and folded his arms.

He sighed, then locked his eyes with mine. "A very good idea."

We hovered over a table with diagrams in a dimly lit room locked deep within the building that housed Blake's unit. "We discovered them only a month ago, a group of highly trained individuals who from one way or another learned of your existence and have dedicated themselves to your demise. They're expertly trained, probably representing some of the best in their field."

"It's good to know you guys keep a tight leash on them," I told him. "Do they have a cool name?"

"What?" asked Blake.

"Usually groups like this have a cool name," I told him. "Like 'The Trust', or 'The Reformation' or 'Raven Nation' some sort of mysterious fun sounding name."

"They don't have a name," he said.

"Oh well then," I said sarcastically. "How are they getting their funding?"

"We have good reason to believe they're being led by a high ranking four star general, which is mostly likely the source from which they garnered all their intelligence," Blake responded.

"So you're saying you have a rogue military unit on your hands?" I asked.

"We haven't classified them as rogue yet," he replied. "We can't, they hadn't taken any action until this afternoon."

"We'll now they have," I replied. "Where are they holding up?"

He sighed, and then looked down at his charts below them. I stared at him for several moments before he forced his head back up. "We're not sure."

"You better get sure," I told him. "They have an innocent life in their hands. They've taken action, its time you got your department into gear there lawman."

"It doesn't exactly work that way," he said, his anger in his voice rising. "We can't just suit up and fight injustice like you. There's rules, and a system, that we HAVE to follow, and cannot disregard because its in our way."

"And that is why I'm here," I told him. "Tell me where they are and I'll deal with them."

He stared at me flatly for a moment. "You're not above the system."

"I'm trying to work within it," I said sternly. "These guys have gone beyond it, and have ruled themselves the hand of god when it comes to my fate, and apparently they're going to use the people I care about to get to me."

"The law didn't seem important to you when we went after Evan," he said under his breath.

"He would of killed all of you," I screamed at him. "If it wasn't for…."

Blake paused for a moment, and then stood up straight crossing his arms, and shaking his head. "How many times are you going to compromise when her life is on the line?"

I slammed my fists on to the table, my gaze towards the floor. I was angry, because he had just pointed out the weakness that may end up costing me my very soul at this rate. I ran my right hand through my hair, leaving my left arm to prop me up. I looked up towards Blake gaze, and shook my head. "As many times as it takes."

"Maybe we should just let them kill her now," he said. I wanted to tear out his eyes right there.

"That's not an option," I responded quickly.

"She's going to end up getting you killed," he said matter of factly.

"Then let me die for her!" I yelled. "This is my life, my world; I'm going to choose when it ends, and if its protecting her, then that's the way I'm going to go out."

"I can't let you do that," he said softly. "You may not be a favorite in my books, but others trust in you." He leaned back onto the table, and slowly flicked through several pages of photos, and diagrams until he found what he was looking for, and pulled it from the pile, putting it on the top. "You'll find them here most likely. It's a site just outside of DC. Now that you got that little bit of melodrama out of your system, why don't you go take care of these fanatics before they get out of hand." A sly grin crossed over his face.

I closed my eyes and slowly opened them again. "You were going to help me all along, weren't you?"

"Do you think you'd be in this room if I wasn't going to help you?" he asked. I looked around and realized just how far down we actually were, and quickly ascertained several of the other purposes the room might have served.

"I guess not," I said.

His grin became a little wider, and turned into an all out smile. "Go get them Hero." I smiled in return, and slowly opened a rift in space and time beside myself, and taking one last look at Blake. "This doesn't patch things up between us."

"I know," I told him.

He nodded in response. "But it's a start." I nodded, and then looked back to the portal, slowly I stepped through, hoping to get as close as possible to where I had to go.

Track Insert – Audioslave "Be Yourself

Finding anything is hard, especially with an address in hand, and finding anything at night is even harder. When Blake had given me the location though, he had only given me the address, and an aerial photo of the site. Sean used some sort of website to convert the address into GPS coordinates and doing the best we could, we tracked our way to the hideout of the group that had taken Mady. It was a very industrial setting, possibly an old warehouse or plant of some kind. The power for the most part was off, and it was very quiet, and almost eerie.

I landed with a soft thud, thinking that flying by night would be the quickest way to cover ground, and I had been right. It wasn't a paved surface, it was more like gravel, and as I walked across it to the edge of building, I tried to move as quietly as possible. Peeking around the corner, I could see that no one was there, and immediately began to wonder if I had been given the right place. Slowly I strolled along the side of the building looking for some sort of life. I would steal glances behind me every several moments making sure that no one was coming, until I reached the other edge, and peeked around the corner. There was a second building, and coming from behind a piece of what seemed like dark cloth was a sliver of light. Apparently I hadn't seen it from the air, but now it seemed very apparent. I leaned back against the building I had hidden against, and carefully focused my thoughts, trying to feel out the presence of the others.

Hers hit me first, like a great rush. I could feel her inside the building, and I could tell she was nervous, and there was a great deal of fear about her. There were several others though, but they were all very calm. Slowly I began to relax and open my mind to everything around me, where I could take into the weaves of other people. Readying myself, I walked forward towards the sliver of light. Using it as a peep hole, I stole a quick glance inside, seeing that there was a shape just on the other side of the cloth. I stepped back into the darkness, and took a deep breath, and quickly spooled up my mental powers. I stood back from the cloth, and then swung my left hand out, forcing the cloth to fly to the side, the man behind it turned around, surprised, and with my right hand extended, I sent a wave of energy that sent him flying backwards. I walked in, a mental field in front of me, and the fallen enemy was already on his back with his weapon aimed, which appeared to be a sub-machine gun. He aimed quicker than I thought he would, and let several rounds out which slammed head on into my field. I rushed forward, and kicked the still firing gun out of his hand, and into the air. With that though, the alarm was sounded.

As I passed by him though, he used the opportunity to leg sweep me, and sent me to the floor, where I landed on my recently wounded shoulder, which hurt like hell. I leapt back to my feet, and then slowly focused on my opponent. His motions were calm, but suddenly I sensed the beginnings of focused weaves which were typical from well trained individuals. He came at me, and I blocked several blows, but he landed a successful one to my side, and the fact that he was much stronger than me became apparent as I crashed into a wall. Using the opening, I forced him back with my mind, and he crashed into the opposite end of the corridor.

"Sean," I said, "hit it."

"Morphing Grid, Online," he reported.

I did my thing, and cried, "Ranger Form, Energize!" slamming my fingers onto my lens, and releasing the DNA lock. My armor formed around quickly, and my hand quickly went for the Enea, as my enemy rushed me again. I dropped to my knee, and from the kneeled position, landed a bolt straight into his abdomen, sending him to the ground stunned. Returning the blaster to my holster, I quickly hurried down the hallway, which opened up to a catwalk. Suddenly, there were sparks everywhere, and I realized there was a hail of bullets as my armor began to register impacts through out it. I dove to the metal floor, as the bullets continued to fly around me. I looked at the railing around me, and realizing that the rail pillars were far enough apart, took my chances and rolled off the side. I dropped gracefully to the ground, using my powers to soften the fall. Pulling my Psy Saber from my side, and igniting it with my own mental energy, I took a quick inventory of my enemies, all twenty of them.

"That's a little bigger than what Blake told us," said Sean.

"No kidding," I replied mentally. Behind them though were the two men I was familiar with, the man in the suit, and the rough looking sniper. Tied to a chair was Mady, in the traditional gagged and bounded look. Not a good look for her, I must add. I didn't have long to check everything though for they opened fired again, and I leaped above the onslaught of bullets, but it was only a bound for a I landed behind the line of twenty men. The one in front of me spun around, and when he did, I brought my saber down on his weapon slicing it literally in half, and then with several other quick movements, his friends weapons beside him were the same. They rushed me, using the butt end of their former guns as blunt weapons. I blocked several of their attempts, and as I advanced forward, the line quickly formed a circle. Several men would come at me at once, and when I dodged their blow, I would slice their weapon in half, and on two occasions, part of their clothing as well.

Extinguishing my saber, when most of their weapons were gone, I switched it in mid dive for my Enea again, and this time came up firing, stunning one person, before receiving a kick to the abdomen which sent me backwards, and then a blow to the back which sent me to the ground. I rolled on to my back, and shot the attacker in the head with a bolt from the Enea, which mostly likely leave his hair singed. Sliding around, I leg swept another guy, and using the momentum, spun back on to my feet, dodging another blow that was meant for my head in the process. I stunned two more guys, before this large, and painful impact slammed into my helmet, sending me off my feet, and onto the ground. I rolled onto my side to see a smoking sniper rifle leveled in the arms of the rough looking sniper from before. Oh yeah, I had forgot about them. The weapon was still trained on me, and another shot was fired, slamming into my armor.

"He must be using high impact rounds, because the armor is starting to register damage," reported Sean.

"No really," I grunted, quickly hurt by the blows I was receiving, not to mention that my shoulder was still killing me. The sniper cocked another shot as I fought to return to my feet, as the group of thugs began to rally themselves. Another shot was fired slamming into my chest, and forcing me back, and dropping me to one knee. I used my hands to prop me up as I leaned forward from the impact. Looking back up at the sniper, I could see him cocking another shot. My breathing was heavy as I slowly stood back up, my frame rising and falling with each breath as I clutched my chest. I dropped my hands to my side, and as I slowly leveled my Enea, the next shot came, and struck me in the head, sending me onto my back.

"The armor is beginning to fail," reported to Sean, and around me I could feel it beginning to melt away. I looked up towards the guy, and my vision changed from normal to the HUDed display of my visor. "Hold on, I'm going to boost the grid the new full power limit." Slowly I watched as the sniper loaded his next shot which would surely kill me if my armor failed. "Engaging, now!"

Around me, my visor stabilized, and better than that, something began to happen. I felt the armor around me return to normal, and then change. It was like the whole system was being put into overdrive, and then suddenly my armor begun to transform.

Track Switch – Armin van Burren "Shivers (Rising Star Mix – Chorus)"

My chest plate expanded becoming thicker, and denser, and behind me I felt this great weight as a jet pack like device formed. My gloves became enshrouded in armor at the back of my hand, and from the wrists back which then merged into thicker bracers, and sleeves. My leg armor changed to become thicker, and my boots took on bigger almost square shape with what looked like spurs used in landing. On my right arm above the bracer formed a large sleek buckler, at the end of it just above my hand were two large barrels that extended from it, and a grip were my hand would rest. My helmet remained unchanged, but my HUD now included new information. The weirdest part though was felt like things growing from my back, and suddenly I felt like I could control new appendages, and as I looked to the side, I could see what seemed like long tendrils of energy which took on the form of a straight wing line. The nearest I could compare it to after everything is said and done, is a cross between a battlized Red Ranger, and Wing Zero.

Suddenly I was my feet again, facing my enemies around me. The transformation must have been nearly instantaneous from their point of view. The sniper fired his next round as if nothing had happened, and as it flew towards me, I raised my buckler which absorbed the blow. I dropped my buckler arm back to my side, and lower my right hand to the side, my Psy Saber hilt slid out of my bracer armor on that end. I ignited it quickly, without even thinking about it. The energy running to it felt stronger, almost like the armor it self was powering it.

Looks of shock slowly covered the faces of my enemies, and even the sniper lowered his gun for a second. But it wasn't going to cost them. I charged forward using the jets on my back to propel me, raising my saber over my head. The saber had changed, and instead of using it as only as a fatal weapon, I used it a stun based weapon. I sliced the mental blade across the chest of the closest person sending a neural overload through his system, almost like the blade had become a tazer. I spun around and sliced another guy. Several of the ones who still had their weapons took aim at me, and fired. My armor easily absorbed the bullets, and then I propelled myself off the ground, propping my left armor into the grip. I felt like a lever which I held onto, and as they took shots at me, I pulled it back. Energy quickly became charged, and then twin beams of light were released, and merged as they raced towards my target, slamming and creating a small explosion as they hit the ground.

"Was that a beam cannon?" asked Sean. "What the hell is going on?" The thugs had been forced away, and now lay scattered about the impact site. I rushed down towards the next standing one, and with the saber still in my right hand, sliced through him as I passed him. One of the guys tried to bring the gun down upon me, and I stopped before I reached him, digging in with my boots, and raising my buckler, which absorbed the blow. I forced him back up, and then spun around, and struck him across the face with the buckler. "That was awesome."

"This is incredible," I replied. "Its like nothing I've ever felt before. The armor is so powerful, and the weapons are unbelievable."

"The grid is at 100% capacity, and holding steady," he reported. "Armor looks good. Clean up the rest, get the girl, and get out man."

"Roger," I replied mentally, turning my attention to the sniper, who had taken aim at me again. He fired confidently, and his shot was true, slamming head first into my chest, the armor barely registering a hit.

"No!" he said. I rushed forward, and using my armor checked him backwards. He dropped the gun, and landed on his back. I raised my saber above my head, and forced down, blade first into his stomach, stunning him quiet. Pulling it out, I turned my attention to the man in the suit, whom still looked remarkably calm. He surveyed the battleground, his men in various states of consciousness, and then turned back to me.

"Why did you do this?" he asked me. "We were never after you."

"You shot at me!" I responded. "You kind of were."

"You still don't understand do you?" he said, slowly taking steps towards me. "Did you really think this was all about you?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"We weren't after you," he said, slowly reaching into his jacket. "But now that you're here…" He reached in quickly, and as he did, I swung my blade upwards, stunning him, and he collapsed to the ground. I quickly rushed to Mady, who thankfully hadn't been hurt in the hail of gunfire. Using myself, and my wings as a protective field, I wrapped myself around her, slicing at her bounds. She pulled them off, and I wrapped my arms around her waist, and ignited my jets. We flew towards the rafters, and landed on the catwalk. We rushed forward into the corridor from whence I had came, to find the guard slowly standing back up. She rushed past him, and as he saw me, he did a double take, and then I sliced him across the legs, sending him back to the ground. Once outside, I turned back to see that we weren't being followed. I looked down at her.

"Release," I said softly, and my majestic armor exploded off of me. Mady shied away at the explosion of light, and I looked at her. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," she said, nodding her head. "I just….what happened?"

"I think that's a bit of a long story," I said softly.

She looked at me critically for a moment, before saying, "Who are you?"

"Keith," interrupted Sean.

"One minute," I told him. Then saying aloud, "That's a long story as well."

"This is important," said Sean.

"Yeah," she said. "I guess it would have to be."

"Let me get you back," I told her. "Before anyone starts to worry too much."

"Alright," she said, taking a step away from me.

"Keith!" exclaimed Sean, over the external speaker system of the com-link.

"What?" I asked aloud, and annoyed. "What is so important?"

"Did you stop and think about what that guy in the suit said before you disabled him?" asked Sean.

"He was just trying to throw me off guard," I replied.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Of course," I said. "They shot at me."

"You weren't the only one there," he replied.

"What do you mean?" I asked him. "It was me and Evan, and ……." I turned around slowly. It suddenly occurred to me that there may just be more to this than I had thought. The cryptic messages began to play together slowly, until everything started to add up. "No," I said softly. "Why would they go after her." I turned to her, and raised my voice. "They were after you…..why?"

She stood still, with her back to me, as if she was staring away into the night. She had been too calm just now, way too calm. Any other girl her age would have been in tears, and she had taken everything in stride, almost too well, almost like it hadn't really been a shock to her. "Because," she said. Slowly she turned around, and as her eyes came into view, they began to glow white, the same white that Evan's eyes turned sometimes.

"No," I said, shaking my head, practically on the verge of tears.

"Because," she repeated, "they were after us."

"No," I repeated again, "please no."

"Secret's out," she said. "This whole conflict is about you, you have to be the hero, don't you?" She stalked towards me slowly. "My job was to keep you off your base. I hated spending all that time with you, every second of it. Do you actually think I'd even consider falling for a guy like you? You're nothing Keith, not even as a Ranger. Albeit, that display in there was rather impressive, and I'm sure Evan will love to hear about you new abilities, but I assure you, Evan, Reid, Derrick, Anna, and I, we'll stop you, and then nothing will be in our way. You can sleep confident in the fact that your days are numbered, and soon, you won't have anything left." There was a bright flash, and she was gone.

Then the shock came. I stood there, my wound had opened back up, and my shirt was covered in blood. I was sore, and bruised in several places, but mentally, I think I had been just destroyed. The girl I had been love with, was actually evil. As far I knew, every moment I had spent with her since when Reid had been captured at the earliest had been false, she had been merely an agent of Evan's to throw me off my game. I dropped to my knees, and slowly tears streamed from my eyes. Exhaustion filled me, and part of me didn't even feel strong enough to open a port. Around me, rain began to fall, as if the sky about me was in the same mood as I was, and together our tears fell.

Strength or not, I managed to open a port, and make it back home. I spent the weekend locked in my room, in probably the worst depression since my mother died. It was awful, far beyond bad, but it didn't last as long. Loss, quickly changed to anger, and anger led me through a port and to Sean's basement.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Its time," I replied.

"Time for what?" he asked.

"Time to take out Evan," I told him confidently. "It's time to finally bring this thing to an end, before anyone else gets hurt, and this time, it'll end when either he's done, or I'm dead."


	32. Commencement

3 days until graduation……

"So what's the deal?" asked Matt. "We're going to chill around here this weekend, having an end of the year LAN party, you in?"]

"Can't," I said, "Xander's coming into town, and we're going to our friends graduation. Actually if you have a minute, I wanted to talk to you about something." We were in his room, just hanging out like we did sometimes. It was the middle of the week, but finals were just right around the corner and at the end of our senior year, no one really cared to do the work. Over the last several weeks, Sean, Peter, and Shen had slowly been going over the situation, and slowly we had begun to boil everything down to the last two days. One of the reasons we had waited so long is that we wanted to put pressure on Evan. We knew because of his personality that with his time running out, he'd want to do something big to leave his mark behind, just like a lot of other teenagers without quite the arsenal he possessed. We knew that would have to involve me in order to satisfy his level of interest, and we knew we could only keep him on the ropes for so long. It was quite risky due to his volatile nature, but in the next day we'd finally break him out of it, and try to take him out.

"What's up?" asked Matt slowly. "You need a place for Xander to stay? Because I've got no room."

"Not quite," I said. "It's actually something I've been meaning to tell you for a little while."

Matt looked at me critically for a moment, "You're not coming out of the closet are you?"

I laughed, "No, I'm not. But it has been a big secret." I stood up to get a better feel for the conversation. "It's hard to say. There's been this thing in my life for a while now, that only a few people know about. It's something that's strange, and different, and a little weird." He watched me for the moment, waiting for me to go on. "You see, I kinda have these abilities…"

He shook his head, "What kind of abilities? I mean are we talking speed reading, or Superman stuff?"

"Well," I said, "I can fly sometimes."

"Yeah, right," said Matt, rolling his eyes in the process. Slowly I closed my eyes, and dropped my hands to the side. Slowly my feet rose off the ground, and while he had a low ceiling, I just suspended myself off the ground. I opened my eyes slowly, and Matt's eyes widen as he saw the red glow coming from them. "Woah."

I dropped back to the ground. "Dude, to put simply, I'm a Power Ranger."

"WHAT?!?!" exclaimed Matt.

"Maybe it'll help if I start at the beginning," I told him. Slowly over the next several minutes I gave him the run down of what had happened since my mother's date. Leaving out several details which he has most likely read since then in these pages, or would learn later on. I tried my best to explain everything using every day things and not get too complicated, but by the end he was sort of sitting there in a form of shock and awe. "And that's kind of everything so far."

He looked up at me, and blinked for a moment. His eyes searched around as if he was looking for the words. "Well, that's quite the story. Why did you tell me this?"

"Something is about to go down," I told him. "I'm not sure how its going to end, but there is a chance I might not be alive afterwards."

"Is it with this Evan guy?" he asked.

"Yeah," I replied. "He's got a few friends too, so you might say the odds aren't in my favor."

"What kind of odds?" he asked.

"As they stand right now," I said slowly, "five to one."

"That's not good," he said, shaking his head.

"Tell me about it," I replied.

"Don't you have any help?" he asked.

"Well, like I told you, I have guys like Sean, and Peter on the sidelines," I said.

"But no one is going to be there with you," he said.

"No, not quite the way you're thinking," I said.

He looked around for a moment, "I will."

"What?" I asked him.

"I will," he said. "I'm sure there are others too. You could make a whole team."

I smiled thoughtfully, "That's kind of you to offer, but I couldn't even if I wanted too."

"Why not?" he asked.

"Its sort of complicated, but let's just say they're isn't enough time at this point," I said, which in some ways was a lie. It had touched me that he had volunteered to help, but I couldn't let him. I thought about everyone involved so far, and realized how real it had become. Mady, Anna, Reid, Derrick, and who knew who else was trapped within Evan's power. Who knew who else would have to suffer because of Evan and me. This was my mistake, that I started, and I had to redeem it, or else people would continue to pay for it.

"What can I do to help?" he asked.

"I've got a file saved on my computer," I told him. "It has everything written down, just in case. If I'm dead, make sure everyone sees it. Just let people know who I am." He nodded slowly.

"Sure thing man," he said.

"Thanks," I told him. "I need to get going, oh and, don't mention anything about this to anyone else."

"Yeah," he said. "Figured on that at this point." I started to go, and he called out to me. "Good Luck."

"It's no longer about luck," I told him. "But thanks anyway."

Later that evening was one of our final planning sessions. I sat down on the couch in Sean's basement with Peter next to me, both of us reclining slowly, as Sean and Shen talked out the details of the situation, as they had many times before the last several weeks.

"I still say that a direct assault is best," was Shen's argument. "If you hit him before he can rally his forces, then you might have an advantage with the Guardian Armor." The Guardian Armor was the name we gave to the suit that I had recently unlocked if you will. When Shen first saw it, he said it was very similar to the traditional battlefield armor worn by many of the Mobium commanders. However they're were differences which he chalked up to my royal blood, but he wasn't certain about it. The name Guardian came from the fact that was the name given to it by the designers of the grid code, back when the Star Forces of Mobius were defensive in nature only.

"We've tried that in the past," argued Sean. "And generally it doesn't work. Guardian Armor or not, training or not, or track record just isn't good. We should consider neutralizing his team before taking Evan on."

"We don't know how big that is," countered Shen. "Even your source inside has no idea how many he's turned. It could be a much bigger number than we imagined."

"But if we don't bring down his support," said Sean. "We'll lose when he calls them to him."

"Alright," I said, interrupting. "Now A, his support happens to be my friends, brainwashed or not, I'd not like to "neutralize" them if we don't have too. B, we should stick to the facts as we know them, and that is five people have been controlled by Evan, and he may not have anyone else, he's probably too paranoid to share power with anyone else. With that being said, Sean, your counsel has been wise as usual, but Shen's right. If I take Evan down first, before he can call in his support, then we can neutralize him, and in turn not have to worry about harming the others. I just wish they're was a way to take away his power, without killing him."

"They're might be," said Peter softly.

"What did you say?" I asked softly.

Peter turned to look at me, and then up at Shen. "Tell him."

"It's been done before," he said. "In away it's a like a big mental adjustment. You seal off the part of his brain that lets him use his powers. It's difficult, but you won't hurt him. After its sealed off, you could use the Guardian Armor to extract the energy from him, so he can't get it back ever."

"How is that possible?" I asked him.

"The Guardian Armor is capable of absorbing energy like laser blasts, and bullets, and other forms, it would be similar idea," he explained.

"I meant sealing off his mind," I replied.

"That's going to require a good deal of focus," he said. "If you mess up, you could leave him permanently damaged mentally."

"Which might not be a very bad thing," added Sean. "Without his powers, he could still be dangerous."

I shook my head, "Let's not get ahead of ourselves." Part of me wanted to though. If this was true, I could disarm everyone, and leave them powerless, it might make it easier. "First thing's first, we're going to have to disable Evan at the very least. With the direct assault means I'm going to pretty much have to camp out at the school waiting for Evan to be alone, and in reasonable isolation."

"Maybe at night?" suggested Peter. "While he's out in the open."

"Its warm out now," Sean said. "Everyone will be outside, dusk falls later as well."

"Is they're anyway we can draw him out, any weakness we can use against him?" asked Shen.

"If we draw him out, he'll bring his support," I said.

"Maybe it doesn't have to be isolated," said Sean. "Maybe the only way to do this is to out everyone at once."

"You mean attack him while others are around?" I asked. "That could endanger lives. Not to mention ruin them, if the others show up under his control. I tend to agree with Shen, we need to draw him out, but he can't know that we're the ones doing it, and he can't think he's being threatened."

"What would draw him out then is the question," remarked Shen.

The gears in my mind slowly began to turn, and then like a turbo-charged engine, burst into action. Slowly a grin crossed my face. "I have an idea……"

2 days until graduation …

I sat in the same conference room I had a month ago. I propped my arm on the backrest of the chair, my legs stretched out in front of me, a smile placed across a lips as I took Blake's reaction to the plan I had just purposed to him. He had to look away for several moments, and finally collapsed into his chair, reclining backwards. He sighed loudly, and announced to no one in particular, "You've gone mental."

I chuckled softly, "It seems like a work of complete insanity, but it might just be the best way to pull this off."

"You've got to be kidding me," he said. "I mean, I can't begin to point out how many things rely on complete timing, and luck, and optimistic views. My Superiors will never go for this."

I nodded simply, "So you're going to do it right?"

"Yeah," he said simply. "We have too. After the way you routed that rouge cell, and all the damage Evan has done to us, the higher ups know we can't go without you on our side, so if you want to launch into action to take him out, this is the only we can do it. But don't think this means we are weak and pathetic without you. I want you to know that I absolutely hate the fact that I had to wait for you to get in line to go forward, and I swear if it was up to me, I would of just done everyone in a couple months ago."

"Why Harry, your faith in me is so, rallying," I said sarcastically.

"I'm just glad we've gotten to the point where we can settle this thing," he said. "Now are you sure you can disable him?"

I looked at him and shook my head, "Does it really matter? I'm sure you're going to be prepared either way."

He put his hands on his waist, and shook his head, "I assure you I have no idea what your talking about."

I stood up and pointed at him, "Do not kill him, I need to try and cap his powers first. If he dies, by any hand by my own, I'm coming after you. Are we all set and clear?"

Blake nodded sullenly, "You know I'm not afraid of you right?"

"I don't get off on fear," I told him. "If you'll excuse me, I need to go pick someone up from the airport."

"I'll get everything going," he told me, and with that I opened a portal to where I had to be next.

I opened the door, and stepped out of my silver Volvo Sedan. That's right boys and girls, if you're going to fight evil, make sure you have the safest equipment to do it in. Really though, it was a hand me down, and I was lucky to have it. It was a sturdy first car that got me where I needed to go….when I couldn't portal for fear of exposure of course. I looked around at the rows of other cars on the multi-level parking deck that was attached to the airport. The inside was all lit up as the night crept in about the exterior of the deck, and as I walked towards the elevator the car's hazards blinked when I pressed the keyless entry button to lock the doors. My footfalls created echoes about me, and as I neared the elevator, I began to feel something.

It was sort of like hearing a whisper when nobody else is around, almost like part of your skin crawls, and your adrenaline begins pumping. My heart's rhythm quickened, and I spun around, but instead of being confronted with a threat, there was just a row of parked cars. I turned back around towards the elevator, and again the feeling hit me. I knew they're had to be other patrons about, but I had the sense that I wasn't completely alone at the moment. I flipped on the com-link mentally, and thankfully Shen was on call. Since we knew that something was going to happen soon, Peter, Shen, and Sean took turns at the base station just in case I needed some form of support, or access to the Guardian Armor which we found was only possible from the Grid Control on Sean's computer, Emergency Power just wouldn't cut it.

"Yes my lord?" asked Shen.

"Don't call me that," I told him, continuing though, "I think I've got company."

"Try to sense the weaves about you, and see if any stick out," he suggested.

"Right," I replied softly. I closed my eyes, and concentrated on the area about me, trying to feel anything different. They're was a short moment where nothing really stood out, but suddenly this buildup of energy became apparent, and there was this great rush of energy charging towards me. My eyes snapped open, and two white blurs were coming at me. Spooling my mental energy, I stretched my arms out in front of me, creating basically an air ram, and as the blurs came at me, they were redirected to the sides, and took shape, as Reid, and Derrick. "Shen, bring the grid online."

"Grid to Full Power," announced Shen over the com-link.

Now, many Red Rangers in the past when they've received an enhancement of their powers have judged many situations to be unworthy of their enhanced abilities, and have chosen to remain in their normal armor. While I respect their battle decisions as the Rangers that they are, I have never agreed with them. "Guardian Form, Energize!"

Track Insert - Armin Van Burren "Shivers (Rising Star Mix) Chorus – Guardian Armor Sequence

Faster than any morphing sequence had taking place before, red energy rushed across my body, and nearly instantaneously, the Guardian Armor emerged. Pulling my Enea from the side, and then aiming towards one, while my other hand readied my Blaster Cannons beneath my buckler in my left hand, I addressed both of my would be assassins.

"How about we all take the night off, and go have some fun?" I asked sarcastically. "A little dinner, a little dancing, leave all this work stuff behind us?" Neither seemed open to a joke though, and stood defensively on either side of me, ready to strike. A high pitch whine filled the air as my Enea charged, and on the other end of the horizontal spectrum, a blue glow began to be noticed inside my Cannons chamber as the power source charged. "Have to say guys, don't like your chances of walking away from this one unscathed, might be better to just go home now."

Derrick nodded at Reid, who nodded back, and then simultaneously they charged forward. I pulled the trigger on both weapons, and the Cannons released their energy towards Reid, who jumped and dove over it, while Derrick side stepped the bolt from the Enea. I leapt into the air as they reached me, using the boosters on my backpack to keep me aloft, and then fired another blast from my Blaster Cannons towards the two who had met where I had been before. The dove out of the way in opposite ways, as the blast slammed into the ground. Replacing my Enea, and releasing my Psy Saber, I landed next to Reid, and sliced at her, but she rolled away, and stopped right side up, releasing a bolt of lighting. Using my buckler for protection, I raised it to stop the tendrils of energy. I rose up, and spun around as I felt Derrick's weaves approaching. Dodging his first attack, I parried his second blow, and sliced across his armor causing a release of sparks from the armor to spill out across the floor. I spun around, kicking him in the process, and turn back towards Reid, who had charged forward, and leapt into the air. I found her now in mid kick, and I raised my cannon, and fired, the blast hitting her head on, and forcing her not only to stop, but backwards to the ground. I hovered slightly off the ground, and charged forward with the jets from my backpack, sword raised into the air over my head, and as I charged at her, she went to leg sweep me. I dove over her crouching form, and landing with my hands first, I then finished the handspring and landed facing forward. I spun back around, dropping to the ground, and sliced her across her leg armor. The two of them rallied together for a moment, both forms clearly engaged in heavy respiratory action as they were somewhat out of breath.

"Why don't you go on leave, I have a plane to meet," I told them. Though they said nothing, I could sense anger building up, and then they shimmered, and flickered away. The area now cleared, I powered down so as to draw less attention by airport security. "Release."

"Good job," said Shen.

"Maybe," I said aloud over the com-link. "But maybe they suspect something."

"Maybe Evan was just testing your new armor, and wanted some intelligence," replied Shen.

"They might be more alerted now," I told him. Switching to the mental frequency I continued the conversation in my mind. "Make sure Blake is ready to go, once I have Xander home, we'll begin."

"Acknowledged," he said, as I stepped into the elevator, and the doors closed in front of me.

As I drove Xander home from the airport, the first part of my little plan kicked into action. I wasn't there, but I heard first hand how exactly it happened. The plan wasn't a masterpiece, and as Blake had pointed out it required too many variables, but sometimes the harder something is to plan, the more luck you'll have in pulling it off. You see there was only one way to lure Evan out, and he had actually shown that to us in the past the first time that he had come into conflict with Blake. He wanted something. The key to luring Evan out was to offer him something that he wanted, and what better way to lure him out then by offering him a way of matching the same level of ability that I now possessed. Shen and Peter set up a meeting with Evan, offering him something he couldn't refuse, more power. The plan was simple, they'd meet him in the gymnasium after lights out, and there, they'd make their pitch, and discuss terms.

The doors opened, and Peter and Shen turned around to see who came in, and slowly just like any other guy his age, Evan walked into the dimly lit gymnasium, which should have been secured. The gym could ocassioanly be partitioned by curtains, and right now that was the case, for on rainy days the tennis team had practiced inside. Shen and Peter had their back to the curtain now, and slowly Evan approached them.

"Are you Evan?" asked Peter in his thicker German accent.

"Yes," he replied softly. "I understand you have a proposition for me."

"A very good one," replied Peter. "You see, we understand you're involved in a…conflict… with a certain individual, and we have certain means to which to possibly stop him."

"I'm not sure what you're talking about," replied Evan, "but if I was, what kind of means would you be speaking about?"

"A new form of technology," replied Shen, "one that could aide you in defeating him."

"What possible form of technology could that be?" asked Evan softly.

"A new form of metal that could be made into stronger armor," said Peter. "Very durable."

"I see," replied Evan. "And just what makes you think I'm in a market for such a thing?"

"You're not exactly off the radar so to speak," said Peter. "Many different groups are now aware of the two of you."

"I see," said Evan. He paused for a moment, and then turned around, taking several paces forward, and summarizing his position. "We'll this quite a unique offer, and I would be interested except for one small technical issue."

"What would that be?" asked Shen.

"There is no armor," said Evan. "And even if there was, I doubt consorts of Keith would be offering it to me." Shen sensed it first, and Peter a fraction of a second later. Both of them dove to opposite sides, as Evan spun around and released long tendrils of energy at where they had been standing before. The two of them rolled to recover, and reacting with their battle instinct charged forward towards Evan. Shen arrived first, and using his full Mobium abilities attacked Evan first. Evan was unused to such an opponent like Shen, who was more skilled and disciplined then I, but as Evan always does quickly adapted. Using his energy powers, he forced a charged straight at Shen gut, and released it, without making contact, forcing Shen back to the ground. Peter came in next, but Evan had already adapted to Shen, so Peter met with fierce resistance. Evan managed to take Peter by the shoulder at one point, and release a charge of energy, that acted almost like tazer, sending Peter spinning through the air. Evan kicked him and sent him into the side wall opposite the curtain, at which point Shen rallied with Peter, and Evan stood with his back to the curtain. Then, I arrived.

Falling through a portal in the ceiling, I landed softly on the gymnasium floor, and Shen and Peter stood on either side of me.

"I didn't realize you were into planning traps," said Evan sarcastically.

"Had a good teacher," I replied.

"So it seems, and here I am, outclassed, and outnumbered, three to one," said Evan. "It seems you have gotten the best of me." There were four bright flashes, two on either side of Evan, and in instant, he was no longer alone. Mady and Reid were on one side, with Derrick, and Anna on the other. Five to three. "Or, maybe not."

"You may have the greater numbers, but we are more skilled," announced Shen. "We will be victorious."

"I wouldn't count on it," said Mady, laughing in defiance. Evan smiled at her, and then turned back to face me.

"It's a shame you found about her when you did," he said. "I was hoping it would be a little while longer before you did. I hope it was a pleasant surprise."

"When I'm done with you, I'm going to free all of them from your control," I told him sternly.

"She's not under my control," he said softly. "Isn't that right?"

"That's right," she said, "I'm my own woman."

"You see Keith, she came to me of her own volition, she's not a puppet like the other three," he told me. "She's her of her own free will."

"I don't believe you for a second," I replied.

"It's true," said Mady. "When I found about the two of you, I joined practically begged Evan to join him. Thankfully he said yes, and now here I am."

"Don't listen to her Keith," said Peter. "She's trying to throw you off."

"If you think this ruse is going to change anything Evan," I told him, "you're sadly mistaken." I flipped on the active com-link so everyone could here. "Sean."

"Morphing Grid to full power," announced Sean.

I smiled at Evan. "Oh just so you know, its not quite five to three in your favor. Now Blake." The two side doors to my left and right burst open. To my left five heavily armored and armed federal agents led by Chris Andrews burst in, and to my right a similar detail led by Blake came in. Every one slowly leveled their weapons at the five standing in front of the curtain.

Evan narrowed his eyes at me, and then scanned the shiny, metallic weapons pointed at him and his followers. "No matter. By the way, I've made some modifications to our armor, tell me what you think." The five of them became covered in energy, and as the energy dissipated an all to familiar sight appeared, one that I'd never though I'd ever see in real life. They're new armor was jagged, and sharp, with lines that seemed to be bent from chaos. The slit visors were now more opened, and their helmets possessed waves, and flares. They're forms had a name, a name that any person who know this kind of armor would recognize instantly. In fiction, these had been one of the deadliest enemies of several ranger groups, and would become the most infamous. Apparently Evan had done his research, for now while my suit had taken tones from the show, so did theirs for it now took on a more intimidating aspect.

"What the hell?" said Andrews to my left, while he held his gun steadily forward.

"Psycho Rangers," I said softly. They're armor was dark, and black, and almost intimidating. It wasn't just looks that he changed, Evan wanted to show defiance, and his power. He had brought five people to his side, and granted each of them his abilities. This was his ultimate right to brag. Anna had taken the form of Psycho Yellow, while Derrick had taken the form of Psycho Black, with Reid as Psycho Blue. Mady stood as Psycho Pink, and while I half expected to see Evan as Psycho Red, he stood instead as a Psycho that had never existed, Psycho White.

"I'm disappointed in you," said Evan. "Surely you know the bullets they have won't affect our armor."

"Well you see," I explained. "I thought the same thing too, and then I learn a short time ago that high impact rounds actually cause a good deal of damage to our armor. If your armor works the same way that mine does, which I suspect it does…" There was a loud sound of many weapons being cocked at once, "…then I suspect, they'll actually cause a good deal of damage to you. But I wouldn't worry about that if I were you."

"Why is that?" he asked smugly.

"Because you still have to go through me first," I said, dropping my arms to my side, my lens gleaming in the dimness of the poorly lit facility. "GUARDIAN FORM, ENERGIZE!" The transformation was almost instantaneous like before. I took a step forward in a defiant, yet defensive position, which Shen, and Peter echoed. I didn't have a team of Rangers like Evan, even if his were mostly brainwashed, I had something a little bit different; I had a team of friends, allies, people who believed in me for no other reason then the simple fact that I had proven myself capable to them. Three to one, fifteen to five. This is what it came down to after all this time.

"We end this here, and now," I told Evan sternly. "No more battles, no more lives on the line. I'm ready to finish this."

"You think this is how it's going to end, one giant battle?" he asked. "I think it might be a little more difficult then that."

"Ready?" I asked everyone on the line.

"Good to go," announced Andrews.

"By your side my lord," said Shen softly.

"I never imagined something like this would happen," offered Peter.

"We're bringing him in tonight," said Blake.

Across from me I looked Evan, and only Evan. It had started out as a secret, a desire to do good, but fate had sought to balance good with evil, and for that reason Evan was struck by a bolt of lightning, and slowly this is what transpired. This war, this battle was born out of a desire of heroism, my desire to do good. "How did it come to this?" I asked softly. Slowly I energized my jetpack, and I could feel the energy on my back building, ready to propel me forward. "GO!"

1 day until graduation …

"WAIT!" cried Sean, very loudly in my mind. Without questioning why, I threw up a barrier field in front of everyone, not allowing to move an inch. Curses, and swears abounded instantly, as several people practically jumped into a wall. "You need to port everyone back here immediately."

"Why?" I questioned, as everyone turned to me for answers.

"Do it," replied Sean.

Without another word, or question for me, I opened a portal below all fifteen of us, and like a trap door opening, we fell through it, and emerged into a safe place we had agreed on before we had launched the mission. Switching the com-link to audio, I let the others listen in. "What the hell is going on?"

"You didn't see it?" he asked us.

"See what?" questioned Andrews.

"The trigger device that Evan was holding?" explained Sean. "Listen I've been studying the list of components that Evan's team took from the federal warehouses, and while most of it seemed like just basic technology they're were a few components that seemed strange, until you put them together."

"Of course," chimed in Blake, "and we weren't looking for it, because we were too busy trying to track Evan down."

"Wait what are you saying?" I asked them.

"There's a good chance Evan has created an explosive device," said Blake.

"And you guys almost forced him to use it," replied Sean. "He could of leveled that entire school."

"Oh my god," I said. Around me the team of ten soldiers lowered there weapons, and Peter and Shen stood uneasily. We had ported into a forested clearing, around the trees reached into the night, shading us from the light of the moon, but leaving the area dark.

"Well what do we do now?" asked Andrews.

"We'll have to find it a disarm it," said Blake. "Otherwise he can just activate it at any time."

"What makes you think he won't still go through with it?" asked Peter.

"He won't," I said. "He's too damn smart to do that, he'd get rid of his bargaining position. Besides he'd rather go for effect. There is only one reason why he'd wait until now to at least partially reveal it."

"Graduation," said Shen.

"Exactly," I replied. "He's going to wait until that auditorium is full of students and their families, and then blow it. Largest number of people possible. Highest body count."

"So that means we have a day to stop him," announced Blake.

"No," I said, "I have a day to stop him."

"Please," said Blake, "we'll get this done faster if we work together."

"How are you going to explain the armed soldiers here to the students?" I asked him. "Reinstitution of the draft? The army wants you?" A soft chuckle left Andrews amidst the darkness.

"Shen," I said turning towards Peter and Shen. "I'm going to port you back to the command post, and you're going to switch places with him. A former student and teacher pair aren't going to raise that much suspicion the day before graduation. Blake and Sergeant Andrews, I thank you for your help, but I'm porting you back to Washington."

Andrews nodded, but Blake was about to protest. "Now wait just a…." was all he managed before a portal swallowed the twelve of them.

"Sean," I said, "be ready to go in the morning, you're going to be on bomb detail, I'm going to draw the proverbial fire."

"Right," said Sean, though there was a good deal of uncertainty in his voice. Without that the remaining three of us ported out of the area.

It was literally a beautiful day as the sky around possessed virtually no clouds, and it was about mid-day as Xander and I crossed up the main path into the main building from where I had left my car. Xander was excited to see his friends which he had been out of contact with for sometime, and I was nervous because if I screwed up, I was going to have to take on all five of Evan's team by myself, but to everyone else it appeared as simple teenage angst. Earlier in the day, Sean had crept in, risking a visit as a teacher to snoop around, and now carefully he had begun to search the auditorium for signs of trigger devices.

Evan knew I was there almost instantly, and Mady shortly there after, and through the beginning of the afternoon we played shadow games with each other. My saving grace was Xander though, for as long as he was here, and might I add surrounded by people, we were safe. Evan though grew bored in the early afternoon, and disappeared, which left Mady to carefully track my presence within their territory so to speak. About mid afternoon, I decided to risk a venture, and slowly ventured into the building, leaving Xander on his own. I entered one end, and quickly left the other side emerging into the courtyard between buildings, heading back towards my car.

"Shen," I project mentally into the com-link. "Any word from Sean?"

"No," he replied. "He isn't due to check in for another twenty minutes though. What is your situation?"

"Evan's given up for the moment, but I'm currently alone, so I expect company at any moment," I replied. I slipped past the buildings and down towards the Soccer fields, hoping to get myself out into an open area. Walking out onto one of the minor fields that was shielded from view by a hill and a gymnasium, I looked around carefully. I had a feeling I had been followed since I left the courtyard area, and I knew what that meant, so now I had brought them into a more secluded place. With my back to the way I had come, I closed my eyes and began to sense the world around me, until I felt them, and I opened my eyes. I turned around slowly, a small smile playing across my lips, and upon the hill from whence I had come, stood Mady and Anna, arms crossed, watching me slowly. Slowly I walked towards them, and they slid down to hill to the bottom. Recovering they stood their ground until we were about ten feet apart from each other.

"Seems like you're lost," said Mady simply. "But then again little boys tend to get lost without their mothers." I flinched for just a moment, but I succeeded in not letting them see it, as she continued, "He's been a naughty boy anyway, and I think he needs a spanking."

"Sounds like fun," she chimed in. They looked at each other, and then cast their arms forward, firing bright tendrils of energy at me. I waved my hand in front of me, and the energy crashed into a mental barrier.

"You guys should of learned by now," I told them, firing a blast of mental energy to knock them on their feet. "Powers don't work on us, you need to go straight to the fight scene."

"Morphing Grid activated," said Shen.

"Guardian Form, Energize!" I announced.

Track Insert – White Water feat Melinda Gareh "The Unknown (Club Edit)"

As my armor covered my body, head to toe, the two girls stood up, and then morphed themselves, both taking on a different shade of psycho armor. My Psy Saber flew from its holster to my hand, and I ignited it, letting the blade hang out to the side.

"You don't want to hurt poor little us?" asked Mady, very voice distorted slightly by her armor, more bitter, more mechanical.

"Want no," I said. Slowly I raised my saber in front of me. "Will, yes." They looked at me and then charged forward. Anna launched herself into the air, while Mady tried to come in low. I sliced at Anna, but missed, managing to only dodge Mady by inches. The two of them regrouped around each other. "You know I always pictured something like this, only both of you were in bikinis."

The came at me again, and I brought my blade back against my arm, crouching low. I slashed my arm upwards and caught part of Anna's armor, causing her to spin through the air. I spun around, and managed to catch part of Mady's shin armor, sending her to the ground as well. Anna slammed into the ground, and then spun around trying to leg sweep me, she missed me, but used the momentum to propel herself back to her feet.

"Free with every power infusion," I remarked sarcastically. "One crash course in martial arts." I sliced at her again, and she dodged to the side, and slammed her arm into my chest plate, forcing me back some. Her weave couldn't have been avoided. I brought my sword back like a Samurai warrior, and then sliced forward again, and she sidestepped it, but I slashed again and met her arms as she blocked, slicing part of the bracer in the process. From where she had fallen, Mady cast forth a blast of energy at me, and I fell back from my attack with Anna, but the distance allowed me to take another slice at Anna, and this time, I sliced her vertically across the chest, creating a bright gash, which flashed, and her armor exploded off of her, as she collapsed to the ground.

I turned my attention to Mady who had regained her footing behind me. I took a long look at her standing there in her Psycho Pink armor, and I truly wondered how it had come so far to this. "Why?"

She laughed, and it was shrill, and evil, and hateful. She was laughing down at someone who had just done something foolish, or said something stupid, almost like it was the laugh of an elitist at a petty commoner. "What do you want from Keith? This is who I really am. Didn't you ever see that?"

Behind here, my mother slowly faded into her ghostly presence, her eyes not on Mady, but on me. There was a look of sorrow on her face, almost pity, and then she nodded at me. I spooled all of my mental energy together, and charged it into the Psy Saber. I raised it beside me again, and it flared as mental energy poured into it. Mady casted her hand out, and fired a blast of energy at me, and I waved it away with my mind, forcing the energy away from my person, and then charged ahead, the boosters on my armor forcing me forward, my blade cast to my right side behind me, until the moment I was less then two feet away, when I reached up, and I swung, veering off at the last moment, and pulling my blade back in. I landed with my back to her, a gash horizontally across her midsection, and again like Anna her armor exploded about her, and she collapsed to the ground.

My armor about me shifted, and slowly I returned to my normal Ranger armor. I walked over to where Anna had fallen, my Psy Saber still at my side. It glimmered, and then the hue of it changed. Their armor was gone, but the damage had still been done to their minds, and it was time to repair it. I stood above Anna who lay with her back to the ground, her eyes closed, and I raised my Saber over my head, and then plunged into her. Her eyes went wide with shock, and she practically sat upright, and then I was in her mind.

Using the Psy Saber as conduit, I entered using her neural pathways, and had accessed her mind. I hadn't run her through at all, but I imagine the shock to her neural system was still considerable. To make a long description short, it probably hurt. Now though I was inside her mind, and I found it a dark place, almost like a dark room. In the center was this lit object, almost as if it was the only thing that had light, except for myself. I was still clad in my Ranger armor, and slowly I walked towards the other object. It looked like a giant crystal almost like an ice sculpture, and I could tell that there was something trapped inside, and I could only suspect that it was Anna's true personality that was being blocked off. Suddenly there were spirits or ghosts or something that became illuminated, and started flying towards me. With a wave of my hand, though I casted them aside like nothing. Reaching back, I released a bolt of mental energy at the crystal, shattering the crystal into pieces which scattered across the room. Slowly the level of light began to rise, and the form inside took shape. A slow fog began to creep into the room, and surround the two of us, and then the light came back, and there was Anna, standing within her own mind.

"Where am I?" she asked.

"You're in your mind," I told her. "You've been asleep a very long time, and now its time for you to wake up. Do you remember anything?"

"I think so," she said somberly, no real emotion being expressed. "I know who you are, you're Keith, and why I'm here. I remember lots of thing, almost like I was watching them on television or in a movie."

"You've had part of your life taken from you," I told her. "I'm sorry I couldn't prevent it. If I had known sooner, or if there had been another opportunity, I would have freed you sooner. You're safe now though."

"Thank you," she said.

"Are you ready to return to the world, are you ready to awaken?" I asked her.

"Yes," she said.

My saber materialized in my hand, a mental command that could be created instantaneously in this world. I ignited it, and looked at her. Without warning, I stabbed her in the chest, and immediately we were both returned to the world outside her mind. I pulled my saber from her leaving no entry wound in her, but leaving her still in some pain. Her breathing was heavy, but for the first time in a while, this was the Anna I had known for sometime. I took off my helmet, and then laid it on the ground, offering her my hand to stand up.

"I don't think I'm ready to stand just yet," she said.

"I'm sorry for getting you involved in all this," I told her.

"You're not the one who did this to me," she said, shaking. "I can't believe what I did….what I almost did, what he made me do."

"But I'm partly responsible for it," I said. "Everything started because of me."

"I'm still in pain." She held her midsection where I stabbed her. "Is it going to go away?"

"Shortly," I told her, "but it was a rather large shock to your neural system, so you may want to take it easy for a little while."

"What about Mady?" she asked.

"I don't know," I told her. "I'm not sure what I'm going to find in there. Do you remember whether she was that way before he changed you?"

"I don't know," said Anna. "But the way she's been acting doesn't seem like her. I don't think she could be someone like that."

"We don't really know anyone until moments like this," I told her.

"Keith," she said, her gaze fixed on me. Her voice was confident, and serious "She's not that."

Breaking her stare, I slowly walked over to where Mady had fallen, and knelt beside her. "Well a while ago, you probably didn't think Evan and I were capable of some of the things we've done. And now, here we are."

"What…" she started softly, afraid to voice the rest of her thoughts, "…would you do if she isn't under Evan's control?"

I paused for a moment myself, scared to continue, to know the truth about what she really was. The hand that held my saber was shaking, and it took a moment for me to get it under control. But I knew if I delayed any longer, Evan could find us, and I knew that not knowing would always be worse than knowing. "Let's find out," I said, and then repeating what I had done before, I plunged my saber into her.

This time I found myself in a chamber, a hall almost, very regal, paintings hanging everywhere, pillars, red carpeting, something out of the French palace at Versailles almost. I turned around, and behind me, I found what appeared to be a throne with several servants fanning what appeared to be someone in a chair. Slowly I walked forward, in the same condition I had entered her mind, my armor protecting everything but my head. The throne was raised slightly off the main level, and as I stood before it, I realized it was because the occupant could look down on anyone who approached her. I looked up at her, as she sat comfortably in her chair, clad in a very lavish gown, and quite content.

"Not quite what you expected was it?" she asked softly, a smile slowly creeping onto her lips.

"No," I replied softly, taking in her beauty in the serene moment.

"Its complexity," she explained, sitting up straight. "Different facets of my personality all united under a regal persona. Actually this more you're doing then mine. You thought the throne was for putting me higher up no doubt, but it was still you who put me here."

"I don't understand," I told her.

"You have always put me higher up then I deserved, above other girls and such," she said. "Above everyone really. And now I'm here, and you can't even get to me. Is this really how you think a girl like me should be treated, or how I should act. I'm just a girl, not a princess. How could I ever be this?"

"The same way, I am who I am," I replied softly. "Because these events make us who we are, who were going to be. Its part of growing up."

"I just wanted a normal life," she countered, "yet here I am."

"That possibility was gone the day I came into your life it would seem," I replied. "Do you know why I'm here?"

"Do you?" she asked.

"Yes," I said. "I'm here to determine whether or not you've been placed under Evan's control."

"You think you are," she said. "But you already knew the answer before you came in, you have always known the answer since you found out. You're not here for the answer, you're here for the reason." She stood up, and then slowly came down to main level. We were eye level, which was strange because normally I was taller than her. As if she was reading my thoughts she said. "You're doing it again, we're equals here, something you always wanted to be, and perhaps that's part of the reason. I choose this path though, because I wanted it. After I lost my chance at a normal life, I decided to embrace what was in front of me. You're not the only one who wanted to be great Keith. There are others of us here who hear the same message all the time. You can be great if you just work hard. Some of us don't want to work hard though, and some of us just can't wait any longer. So an offer comes along, and you realize you can have everything now, and you take it. You did, so did Evan, and so did I, the only difference was how we choose to use it."

"I choose to protect life," I told her. "The two of you seemed bent on doing the opposite."

"I never hurt anyone," she said.

"You just came after me," I reminded her.

"You're different, you're an equal," she said, "Someone who was going to stop all of this, unless we stopped you first. I couldn't allow that. I couldn't allow you to stop my dreams."

"You're dreams would become nightmares if Evan was left to his designs," I told her. "Were you planning to stop him too?"

"If I had too," she said softly. "One thing at a time; one war at a time."

"I can't believe this is you," I said. "Anna doesn't believe this you."

"Yes you do," she said. "You've seen this side of me before, part of you was even attracted by it, the vast untapped potential." Slowly she returned to her throne, and sat down again. "Well, it's been tapped, and this is the end result. We find ourselves here. Now you have you're reason, and I know you won't kill me, so the question is, what do you do with me? I'm banking on you just letting me go, after all, I'm the love of your life. You couldn't hurt or stop me if you wanted too." A sly grin played across her lovely face, and for a moment I understood while all those early Christians who wrote the Bible cast the female gender in a negative light. Women like her had man cast out of Eden. She was partly right, I certainly wasn't going to kill her, or hurt her, but I couldn't let her just walk away, otherwise we would be doing this all over again.

I could leave her in this state, trapped in her own mind, the rest of her life. She would be put away somewhere, never to lead a rich fulfilling life, just a study object. It wasn't much of a life. The other alternative was the only thing I could think of. But it meant losing her, and for a moment I paused before I decided to do it. She would never be her again, never the girl I loved so much. I would be destroying her, ironically to save her. I raised my head and met her eyes. "I want you to know that no matter what happens from here on in, I did love you, and evil or not, I probably always will. There is nothing else in this world I'll ever care about more."

She smiled triumphantly, like the cat who swallowed the canary, thinking she had won, and was about to get off scott free. Slowly the grin turned to horror as she read through my thoughts, and time slowed as she rose from her seat, and let out a cry of defiance. I waved my hand though, and instantly she was crystallized, in the same form that Anna had been in her mind. The lighting in the palace about me went dark, the halls silent, the servants, vanished. Slowly I retreated back down the hall, somewhat numb, and then with a flash, I was in the normal world again. Anna had come up to us, and Mady's eyes slowly opened. This was no longer the girl I had grown with, this was someone else, a new person. Similar, but not identical, but one had to look hard to know that. She looked at the both of us silently.

"What happened?" she asked.

"She was under Evan's spell then?" asked Anna cheerfully, already convinced that it had to be the case.

"Yes," I lied. "It was rather complicated, and made her act the way she did. She's back though now. The way she should be." Anna hugged Mady, and I watched the two reunite, both now free, in a sense. Slowly I stood up, and then walked over to where my helmet had been set, and retrieved it. I held it my left hand for several seconds looking at it, thinking about what I had just done. At every step or turn I had sought to be a better person than Evan, but perhaps ultimately, I was still no better than him. I had freed one person, and imprisoned another, nothing won, nothing gained, but maybe they would be better for it, maybe the world would be better for it. This was the first time, the very first moment where the whole real life hero thing hit me. This is what most of the battles from now on would be like. Not victories, compromises.

"What now?" asked Anna.

"Now," I said softly, then turning to face them, putting everything else behind me to face what was coming next, "you graduate."

Graduation Day …

I looked at Matt, and then Peter, followed by Shen, and finally Sean. We sat in Sean's basement, and it was the early morning, long before the rest of our world was to wake. I sat silently looking at each of them in turn, thinking about how far we had come, and how far we had gone.

"Two down," said Matt.

"Half way there," remarked Peter.

"And yet still so far away from sleep," I replied softly. Turning to Sean again, I asked, "You found nothing?"

"No," he replied, propping himself against his desk with his arms folded across his chest. "There was no sign of anything, which only means he hid it better than I could find it."

"Maybe he'll just wait til the last moment to do it," suggested Peter.

"Most likely," replied Shen.

"It seems like every time something like this happens, its always his move," I said, and then sighed. "Cat and mouse as always."

"Not after today," replied Sean.

"Indeed," added Peter. I looked up at him, and then Sean.

"I haven't won yet guys," I announced. "Don't go uncorkin the Champagne quite yet."

"My lord what is your strategy?" asked Shen.

"First of all, stop referring to me as a Prince," I said. "Secondly….I don't know yet. Wait several hours, show up at Graduation, and see what happens. It's not like the movies you know. There isn't always going to be a grand scheme, sometimes, you just have to roll with what life hands you."

"I have not watched a lot of movies," said Shen.

"So there's no Matrix-style plan then?" asked Matt.

"No, we're going to leave the trenchcoat and guns behind this time," I replied. "And my wire team called out sick."

"Seems more like a Western," said Peter. "The town has been cleared out, now its just you and him."

"Well, let's not forget Reid, and Derrick," I said. "Hopefully I can save both of them."

"At least Evan was bluffing, and you were able to restore Mady," said Sean.

"Yeah," I said, my gaze turning towards the ground. I hadn't told them what I had really done to Mady, nor would I. How could I? What I had done on many levels had made me no better than Evan, I had trapped her in her own mind.

"How are you going to deal with Evan?" asked Shen. "He's this way of his own volition, and hasn't been brainwashed or anything."

"Maybe if I seal off his powers, he'll be alright," I said. "At least that's what I'm banking on."

"And what if he isn't?" asked Matt.

"I'll deal with that when we get there," I said. "As far as we know this could last another year."

A streak of light penetrated into the lit basement as the sun slowly came up over the mid-west. I watched the beam hit the ground, and slowly sit there for several moments. It was strange to see, but in some ways maybe it was an omen of things to come. Maybe it was a sign of good luck. Maybe I was just reading too much into it.

The room was filled, and outside the weather slowly declined. Family members of different ages, and backgrounds filled the seats of the theatre that I had been too so many times before, and had never seen this packed. The stage was cluttered with rows of chairs for the graduates and as they slowly filed in, a soft music played, and the flashes of cameras were seen everywhere. I sat atop the entire crowd, perched in the Light and Sound booth watching every file out, with Xander further down sitting with the rest of the tech crew.

The graduates were finally seated, but of course one was missing, and of course it was Evan. The hole he had left where his seat had been had been overwhelmingly obvious, and furthermore, he meant to do it, one last act of defiance. Mady and Anna were among the graduates, because even though they knew the danger, there was hope I could still stop them, and alerting anyone else could cause a panic. Plus, I think they choose to see if they could assist me anyway, or at least hoping to get a shot in at Evan. Speeches were given by essayists that the class had voted on, and Mady had been one of them. I sat there watching her give her speech, and I wondered how much of the real her was still there, watching. Everything proceeded smoothly, and just when it looked like we were about out of the woods, and the head of school was about ready to hand out diplomas, the truth became revealed.

The doors from the scene shop opened behind the graduates already sitting on stage, and out marched Evan, clad in his traditional armor, the other two Reid, and Derrick had returned to their normal armor as well. Perhaps he had given up on his psychological games. His head had been exposed so that his audience could see his face, but the other two still hid behind their helmets and visors. Derrick and Reid marched behind Evan carrying a small box. The headmaster turned slowly at the sign of the interruption, and stopped in the middle of his speech. Evan stood defiantly in front of him, confident in his abilities over everyone else. He reached back and casted forth a blast of energy that tore across the stage, and destroyed the podium in front of the head of school. Panic erupted, and everyone tried to flee from their seats, but Evan was already prepared. What Sean had missed yesterday was not the bomb, but a system Evan had rigged up, which he activated there and then. A force field covered the entire audience, including the people nearby, and trapped them into their seats. A similar one covered the rest of the graduates, the only one free to roam about was Evan and his group, and the headmaster. And me.

The screams of panic could still be heard through the field, and as Reid and Derrick laid the case on the stage, and took up positions on the two main aisles of the theatre, Evan raised his hand for attention. "People, please. You've been confined so that you may witness this glorious event. The mass murder of several hundred people at once, and my rise to infamony. It truly will be stunning. Well for me at least. You may continue to panic, and scream, rest assured that no one can help you." Of course, that was my cue.

"Evan!" I called out, as the door to the theatre shut behind me. I had transversed the back staircase, and down the stairs before Xander could even yell after me. I stood there as the rest of the audience did, clad in a suit and tie, not exactly the best in fighting gear, but it was all I had. I realized my pulse was racing, so to settle it, I put my hands in my pockets, and leaned back.

"Ah yes, the hero," he announced. "The people's savior! Look everyone! It's the boy who would be hero. The guy who has been fighting to protect you all along. A champion in the making. But, it seems the truth is finally upon everyone. No more hiding in plain sight for us. Everything's out in the open. Good and Evil known at last. Well, considering they're going to be dead, no one will still know I guess, besides our friends in the government."

"Let them go," I told him.

"It's never worked that way before Keith, its not about to now," he replied. Slowly I began walking towards the stage, quite aware that Derrick lay between me and Evan. "If you want to save these people Keith, you simply have to stop this bomb. He pulled a trigger device from his belt, and then pressed a button. I was stunned for a moment, until I realized it must have activated a timer, otherwise he would have been killing himself as well. My suspicions were confirmed as a little digital timer emerged from the case, and counted down from five minutes.

Track Insert – Push vs. Globe "Tranceformation"

"Here we go," I heard Sean say over the com-link. Derrick stood in my way, and I realized I had to go through him. The first attack is always the same. He went for my head with a punch, and I ducked under it, putting my arm up to block. I spun around, and leg swept him to the ground, as he fell in between the steps of the staircase. He darted back up to the ground quickly, as I came back up, flipping forward. He jumped into the air, and kicked at me, and I ducked backwards, but he used the time to let a bolt of energy off that struck me in the stomach, and I fell backwards a few feet. Turning the tables on him, I released a mental blast which sent him backwards a few feet, and then dove at him, but he side stepped me, and I hit the ground rolling, and recovered. He came at me again striking me across the face, and then nailing me in my stomach. His hands came down on my back, and he threw me at the wall, which was brick in design. I hit it, but recovering quickly through myself off of it, and swung at his head, my fist connecting at his helmet, and forcing half his body to the side. He recovered, and as he did, I dropped to one knee and casted my hand out in front of me, summoning my Enea, and as he stood back up, I let loose several shots, two bolts impacting into his abdomen. He returned with a blast of energy, and I rolled to the side, now landing on one of the side skirts of the stage, my body sliced and burned in several places due to the energy blast. Derrick launched himself into the air, and suddenly a twin bladed weapon similar to Evan's was in his hands aimed right at my head. I wasn't fast enough to get completely out of the way as part of it grazed my shoulder taking part of my suit with it, and some of my skin. With an open wound I turned back around, holding my shoulder. I tossed my Enea to the side, and using my mental energy produced my Psy Saber, and ignited it with my mind. I rushed forward, slicing, but his weapon became infused with energy, and the blades blocked the coming onslaught of my weapon. I slashed again, and again the attack was repelled. Backing up a step, I thrusted forward, and as he went to block, pulled back, and came in from below slicing his weapon in half. I spun around, and slashed the blade across his chest, and then followed through again slashing it again, so a mal-formed X shape appeared in his chest. The gash began to glow, and then similar to Mady and Anna the armor slowly began to glow, and then exploded off him sending him back into the wall, where he crumpled to the ground. I took a deep breathe and as I looked around my eyes locked onto my father who was in a state of emotion I'd never seen him before. I looked at my shoulder, and could only imagine what any parent would think seeing their son engaged in a battle like this. But time was of the essence, and I wasn't about to dwell on these thoughts.

I whipped my head around to see Evan being the closest to me, and Reid beyond him. I couldn't take Evan down before I did Reid, otherwise she'd strike while I was in combat with Evan, so calling forth my Enea from where I had tossed it, I forced myself off the ground with my mind, headed straight up to the rafters. Energy blasts tore after me from Reid, and Evan, and though I couldn't see them, I could feel them. I darted to the side, and like a plane cutting its thrust, I fell back to the ground feet first, my blaster leveled at Evan, firing two bolts at him, which both missed, but distracted him long enough so I could land next to Reid. Spinning both my saber and Enea in my hands, they vanished back into the ether of the morphing grid, but I had wasted too much time, and received a kick across my side which sent me into the wall.

I slammed into it with my bad shoulder, and again pain shot through me. I dropped to my knee, and Reid stood over me. She picked me up, and tossed me into the force field, which caught me like a slab of pavement. She spun around to kick me in the face, but as she came around I forced her back into an emergency exit door made of glass. She broke through it, and fell outside with the pieces of glass about her. She regained herself quickly though and let loose a blast of energy that I ducked under and was absorbed by the force field protecting the crowd. I took a moment to regain my breath as she stepped back into the building. I charged at her aiming for her head with my first, and like I had with Derrick before, she blocked it and then slammed her arm into my stomach forcing me backwards. I launched myself at her, tackling her to the ground, rolling and recovering on the opposite side of her.

She fired a blast of energy at me, and it struck me head on, and I fell to the stage again. I hit the stage, and part of me wanted no business in standing up again. I heard Reid slowly approaching me, her booted footfalls heavy even on the carpet. The captive audience had gone silently, and so had the graduates, and as I looked up, all eyes seemed to be on me. I glanced to the side to where Evan stood triumphantly with his arms crossed, and just beyond him, sat Mady, confined to her chair, but with a look of worry, and shock. I closed my eyes, and when I opened them again my eyes flashed red. My Psy Saber emerged into my hand, and ignited, and I rose up slowly, I could feel the mental energy in me already spooled. Reid geared up to release another blast of energy and she casted her hand forward, I charged forward, and sliced horizontally across her helmet, and then diagonally across her chest. She fell backwards, and again like her counterpart her armor shattered about her, and she collapsed to the ground.

I stood fully erect, most of my clothes in tatters, and slowly I turned towards Evan, who had already summoned his helmet into one hand, and his twin bladed sword into the other. He waited patiently, like a Samurai awaiting his next opponent, and slowly I removed my jacket, what was left of it anyway, and ripped my tie off, tossing both aside.

"Two minutes left," reminded Sean mentally. "You're doing good, the grid is online."

"It seems you have the whole audience supporting you," said Evan smugly. "A champion at last it seems." Behind him, my mother slowly came into focus, and only I could see her. Her gaze fell on me, seeming to pass right through Evan and onto me. There was something in her look I had never seen before, and it reminded me almost of a look of someone who's had the same experience as you in the past. As she blinked though the look changed to pride, and slowly a smirk spread over my face.

"I've always had the support I've needed," I told him.

"So it seems," he said softly. "Are you ready to die for them, after most of them turned their back on you? You've fought for them so long, and they've never even sought to repay you, and you're ready to throw your life in spite of that it seems."

"It was never about them," I said. "It was about me, and what I had to do. Enough chat, its time for all of us to move on with our lives."

"If you insist," said Evan, placing his helmet back on. Slowly I rolled up my sleeves, revealing my Power Lens which glowed softly. "I just hope we make it good, I mean…the whole graduation day battle has to be climatic right? Season finale esque. Maybe even Series."

"You bring your end, I'll bring mine. Guardian Form, Energize!" I said, not so much a yell, but an exclamation to everyone about me. My Guardian Armor formed around me, and finally as the transformation finished, I stood still, my Psy Saber at my side. Evan lowered his weapon to his side, and silently we regarded each other as the seconds continued to tick away on the clock of the bomb that would destroy all of us.

We both raised our blades, and leapt forward, both of us gaining air as we did so. A loud crash of energy filled the theatre as we met, and together the two of us fell back to the stage, our weapons locked together. We retreated backwards almost simultaneously, and then charged forward again, both of us slashing, and our blades connecting. Stepping back, we each channeled our respective energies at each other, the two meeting, and forcing us backwards. The impact was so great, we each lost ground, our feet sliding across the stage. As it dissipated, Evan pulled his blaster from his side, and fired several shots. Raising my buckler, the armored shield absorbed the two bolts, and then I aimed it forward, firing the cannons underneath in return. A field of energy erupted in front of him, and absorbed the blast. Waving aside his shield, he casted a blast of energy at me. I waved the energy aside, and bounded into the sky using my armor's booster, propelling me into an aerial attack at Evan with my Saber raised over my head. I came down, and he sidestepped me, kicking me in the back armor, sending me into the wall. I spun around swinging for something, and hoping for Evan's head, but he ducked underneath, so I spun around again, trying to leg sweep him, but he was faster, leaping into the air, and flipping backwards. I released a wave of mental energy that lifted him into the air, and further back, opening a gaping distance between the two of us, giving me a little comfort room, and a chance to breathe.

Again we charged at each other, I slashed high, and he blocked, then he came in at my mid section, and I spun around catching the lower part of his blade. He slashed again, and I forced my blade in below his, and then pushed up. He let go of his weapon with one hand, and let it rise into the air only to catch it with his other, only to bring it down diagonally again. Spinning my wrist around, and point the saber down, I blocked the strike, and then rotated my hand again as I came in for a slash. He repelled it backwards, and then using both ends of his blades attacked me from each end. I did all that I could to block each hit, stepping backwards as I did, until I finally I swung at his head, and using the momentum to carry me, I spun around, and kicked him in the helmet, forcing the distance between us to open once again. Spooling my powers up, and not waiting until the last second, I opened a portal right below the bomb, and then much like the coyote falling off a cliff, it slipped into. Evan watched in shock as his weapon disappeared from view.

"NO!" he cried, and then charged at me, swinging for my head. I ducked below, raising my blade to catch his, and then swung for his legs, which he blocked using the other end of his blade. I charged forward, and as he thrust his blade at me. I reached forward to block, and flipping over both blades, and landing behind. He spun around, aiming for my exposed back, which I blocked dropping my saber behind my back to do it, and then bringing it back over my head to parry the next hit. He swung again, this time only connecting with air, and I slashed forward in opening, and was rewarded with a clean swipe across his chest plate. We both paused for the moment as he looked at it, his gloved hand touch his breastplate, before he looked up at me. I thrust forward, and he blocked with one hand, and then swung again, and I parried, forcing him back.

"Surrender, your plans lie in ashes," I told him. "Give up now, and neither of us need take this any further."

"You wish!" he cried. He charged forward, and I slashed forward at one of his blades, cutting off the right of end of his blade, and making it one. The one slashed for my head, and I had to roll to the side, which is not easy to do with Guardian Armor. His style changed now with only blade, and he came at me again, slashing at my head, and then missing on purpose so he punch me in the side, forcing me backwards. I blocked his next attack, and then slashed at him, catching part of his left arm armor. He didn't blink at the hit though, and followed through with a thrust that caught part of my side armor, practically disintegrating it, exposed damaged flesh apparent. I clutched my side, which cost me power in blocking as he forced my blade down, and spun around, his foot connecting with the bare brunt of my helmet, forcing me onto my back, and causing me to slide some across the stage. His rage empowered him so much, that the HUD in my helmet went out, and I could see a hair-line fracture through the visor. I stood up slowly, but he was practically on me again, and I missed the first parry, and he brought his blade down across my chest, sparks shooting out from it as the metal met metal. It hurt too, but I channeled that pain into aggression, and swiped up wards, causing another gash across his armor. I stepped up my attacks then, going on the offensive, I slashed, was blocked, slashed again, blocked a second time, slashed, then spun, slashing as I did, and once again connecting with his blade. I stepped forward, with my back leg, slashing from underneath towards the ceiling, and catching both his legs in the slash. A large gash formed across his leg armor, and his weapon fell from his grasp onto the stage. He dropped to his knees, and I propelled myself into the air, my blade dropped to my side. I flipped in mid air, leveling out, my arm cannons trained on Evan, ready to finally finish it. He wasn't going anywhere.

"Its over," I told him. "Now's your chance to give up."

He looked up, and though his expression was masked by his battle worn helmet, I could feel the level of anger rise from him. Like a knife thrower or some one tossing throwing stars he propelled bolts of energy at me. I flipped backwards, and flew upside down out of the way, only to complete the roll, and aimed straight back down at him. I flew at him, at full speed, bolts of energy whizzing at me. I blocked the first with my saber, forcing it off to the side, then another with my mental powers, before finally the one most accurately aimed, I blocked with my buckler. My saber once again at my side, I whipped it forward as I leveled out, and slashed at Evan as I flew past, digging my feet into the stage to slow me, I slid and came to a stop at the very edge. Slowly I stood up, and turned around. Behind me, Evan still leaned forward as he did as I charged at him, frozen in the position, his armor unable to move. A light slowly began to emanate from it, until slowly the energy built up, and released, his armor exploded about him. His body collapsed forward onto the stage.

"Sucks when that happens," I announced to no one in particular. My saber remained dropped to my side, my helmet turned down, watching his fallen body on the stage, and as I stared on in shock, my mind just could not register what had just transpired. My breathing was heavy, and my whole body rose and fell with each breath, as I stood there. I had done it, and it was over. And I felt nothing yet.

Track Insert – Switchfoot "Dare You To Move"

"Release!" I cried, and around me my armor just vanished into a puff of light. It was then that I truly began to realize the pain of my wounds, and bruises. The fact that I had won, still wasn't registering, but slowly I became aware that I wasn't the only one present, as the room around me focused on all their attention on me. With as much grief due to the pain I felt, I slowly I made my way over to Evan. Flipping him over onto his back, I placed my hand on his chest, searching his mind for the thing that had changed him so much. Finding it, I realized I couldn't remove it without possibly ending his life. While the fate may have what he had deserved, but I had never been an executioner, so instead, I merely blocked access off to it. In essence, I cut him off.

Standing up, I looked first at the graduates, and then back at the rest of the audience, without even trying to comprehend what I was going to say. They were owed some sort of explanation, and I realized that I was going to have to be the one to give it to them. I grinned at the circumstances of my situation, and then looked over at Mady, smiling briefly, before turning to face the main audience. I was never any good at public speaking.

I paused for a moment before I began, trying to choose my words carefully, the audience on the edge of their seat, poised in excitement, almost like they were watching a movie. "What you saw here today, was something you were never meant to see. I turned back towards Evan's fallen body, and then back to the graduates. "Today was meant for them, not for this. You've all been caught up in something that never should have happened in the first place. But it did, and now here we are. You've been lied to, by him," I said, motioning to Evan, "and by me. This is who we are, this is how we truly are, and this kind of thing has been happening behind all your backs for a long time. Does it make us wrong for not telling you? Did you deserve to know? Absolutely. But you weren't, because we feared what would have happened if you did know."

I held my shoulder for a second, and summoned my Enea into my hand. I leveled it the devices at the edge of the audience, which seemed likely to be the field generators, and fired, and then turned and fired at the ones holding the graduates in place. I dropped my arm to my side, and my Enea was reabsorbed into the grid.

It started out quietly, but it became echoed, and then more joined in. It was the sound of applause, which filled the room, and then shouts of joy, as people rose from their seats. Around me swarmed a sea of my fellow classmates, dressed in all their fancy suits, while I stood their in the tatters of my clothing. Pats on the back ensued from several people behind me, and around me were the smiles of joy and happiness. I was so numb from everything that just happened that I didn't hear a single word of praise, or joy. Zach was there, and so was Anna, and then at the edge of the crowd she stood, slowly making her way to the front. I watched her come in, our eyes locked on each other, and then there she was before me. She wrapped her arms around my neck, and slowly a smiled played across my lips, and I pulled in her into a very tight hug, and stood there for a moment.

Everything hit me at once, every single realization about what had happened, about what was supposed to happen. It was like lightning had struck my brain at the instant, and I realized how all this had started. It's like how everything else begins, with a girl, with her. This was the moment my dream had come to an end. She had fallen, and now she stood here with me now because I had played with her mind, and made her someone she was not. I wasn't right, I wasn't a hero, I was just some guy who thought life was more important than death, and put that reasoning to the test, protecting everyone here. I didn't deserve praise, or their applause, and I knew then that they couldn't be allowed to remember any this, especially her. Slowly I pulled away, and looked at her. If this were anything but real life, I probably would have gotten the girl, and as I thought that, I slowly stroked her cheek. Spooling up all my remaining mental energy, I thrust my arm into the air, and a bright flash ensued.

The clapping continued, at least from everyone else's standpoint, but everything was different. No damage was apparent to the theatre, Evan's body was no longer sprawled across the stage, but he sat, very disillusioned in his chair, and Reid and Derrick sat in one of the rows in the back, smiles on their faces representing the joy of seeing their friends graduating. Mady stood at the podium, the applause from her ending her speech. I stood up in the AV Booth again, watching her from above, and as she looked up at me, catching my eye for just a moment, there was the faintest hint of recognition, before she turned away. I smiled, and slowly walked away, heading towards the stairs, and as I left the booth I heard Xander who was perched by the window, watching with the others, say, "Hey, who was that guy?"

They wouldn't remember me, any of them, not even my family. I had erased myself from all of their minds, put Reid and Derrick back to normal, and even blocked Evan's memory of his events. For them, it had been as if high school had been normal, as well as everyone else, and I was now just a faceless stranger, someone they wouldn't even remember if they only meant me once. As I set foot into the lobby, and walked out into the main courtyard into the overcast day, I felt a presence by my side, and I smiled.

Track Insert – Michelle Branch "All You Wanted"

"You did good kid," said a voice, and I turned to see the ghostly form of my mother standing there. "I mean it, I'm very proud of you."

"Just tell me again, it wasn't really going to work out with her," I said to her.

"You know it wasn't," she replied. "But look at the bright side, you defeated a very dangerous opponent, and saved a good deal of lives."

"You're right," I told her, "I guess I did."

My Com-link went off, and I switched it to audio link, and spoke aloud, "Go Sean."

"I didn't get a chance to congratulate you, but I am now," he said. "Shen, Peter and Matt send theirs as well."

"Thanks guys," I said softly.

"So what do we do now?" he asked. "Retirement?"

"Nah, we just do what we always do," I said. "We go back to work."

"Well if its work you want," he said. "There's a four alarm fire in the city. They could probably use a hand." I turned to the horizon, and could barely see a large column of smoke rise far off into the distance.

"What do you think mom?" I asked her.

"Go get them," she said, offering a smile.

I smiled back at her, for the first time, feeling very content with this life, and who I was. It wasn't everyone who had this kind of world, and it wasn't everyone that could face it this way. I had accomplished a good deal that day, and it looked like it wasn't over quite yet.

Spooling up all my mental energy I forced myself off the ground, and into the clouds, leaving the world I had known for so long behind, prepared to race into the sky after my destiny. Just another guy, following the path laid out for his life.

The End.


End file.
